DNA甲基化是一种表观遗传过程，在癌症和衰老中发生变化。与生物无菌小鼠相比，年龄相关的甲基化漂移可以用来估计寿命，可以受到膳食等外部因素的影响。在这里，我们报告说，非致病性微生物群加速了结肠的年龄相关甲基化漂移，而这种漂移与无菌小鼠相比更明显。DNA甲基化分析结果显示，微生物群和IL10KO分别与CpG位点的5%和4.1%的变化相关，而具有这两种因素的小鼠有18%的变化。微生物群，IL10KO和它们的组合分别改变了0.4％，0.4％和4％的CpG岛甲基化。这与结肠癌症的表观遗传学变化相似。IL10KO小鼠随着微生物群的增加，加速了衰老过程，而受影响的基因更可能在结肠癌症中发生改变。因此，微生物群影响结肠的DNA甲基化，呈现出与衰老和结肠癌症中观察到的类似模式。

DNA methylation is an epigenetic process altered in cancer and ageing. Age-related methylation drift can be used to estimate lifespan and can be influenced by extrinsic factors such as diet. Here, we report that non-pathogenic microbiota accelerate age-related methylation drift in the colon when compared with germ-free mice. DNA methylation analyses showed that microbiota and IL10KO were associated with changes in 5% and 4.1% of CpG sites, while mice with both factors had 18% alterations. Microbiota, IL10KO, and their combination altered 0.4%, 0.4%, and 4% of CpG island methylation, respectively. These are comparable to what is seen in colon cancer. Ageing changes were accelerated in the IL10KO mice with microbiota, and the affected genes were more likely to be altered in colon cancer. Thus, the microbiota affect DNA methylation of the colon in patterns reminiscent of what is observed in ageing and colorectal cancer.