Differential Gut Microbiome Profiles in Long-Distance Endurance Cyclists and Runners

We recently have shown that the gut microbiota composition in female and male runners positively correlates with sports, and female runners show similar gut microbiome diversity to male runners. However, gut microbiota composition has not yet been fully investigated in other endurance athletes, such as cyclists. Therefore, in the current study, we investigated the gut microbiome profiles in competitive, non-professional female and male cyclists compared to what we have shown in runners. We aim to understand (1) whether the gut microbiome signature is sport-specific; (2) whether there is a microbiome difference between female and male cyclists and runners; and (3) whether the gut bacteria expressed in cyclists and runners correlates with exercise performance. Our study included 58 subjects: 18 cyclists (9 males), 22 runners (13 males), and 18 control subjects (9 males). Fecal samples were obtained and subjected to taxonomic analysis to assess the relative abundances of species across subjects based on 16S rRNA sequencing results. Both alpha and beta diversity of the bacterial communities were evaluated to identify compositional variations between the groups. Each participant completed a maximal oxygen consumption test and a time-to-exhaustion test at 85% of the measured VO2max. Cyclists performed the test on an SRM ergometer, while runners used a motorized treadmill. Blood lactate levels were measured at 5 min intervals throughout the time-to-exhaustion trials. Alpha diversity demonstrated a significant difference (p-adj < 0.001) between cyclists and runners. Male cyclists showed significantly lower alpha diversity than runners (p-adj < 0.001). The taxonomic analysis of gut microbiota composition between cyclists, runners, and controls showed a lower or higher abundance of fifteen different bacteria. In cyclists, there was a significant positive correlation between six bacteria, and in runners, there was a significant positive correlation between eight bacteria, with weekly training volume, time-to-exhaustion, VO2max, and blood lactate levels. This study suggests potential sport-specific characteristics in long-distance cyclists’ and runners’ gut microbiome signatures. These findings emphasize the differences in gut microbiota between cyclists and runners, probably due to the difference in physiological and biomechanical conditions related to the activity mode during each sport.