Publication

Milk- and solid-feeding practices and daycare attendance are associated with differences in bacterial diversity, predominant communities, and metabolic and immune function of the infant gut microbiome

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Last modified
  • 02/20/2025
Type of Material
Authors
    Amanda L. Thompson, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillAndrea Monteagudo-Mera, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillMaria B. Cadenas, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillMichelle Lampl, Emory UniversityM. A. Azcarate-Peril, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Language
  • English
Date
  • 2015-02-05
Publisher
  • Frontiers Media
Publication Version
Copyright Statement
  • © 2015 Thompson, Monteagudo-Mera, Cadenas, Lampl and Azcarate-Peril.
License
Final Published Version (URL)
Title of Journal or Parent Work
ISSN
  • 2235-2988
Volume
  • 5
Grant/Funding Information
  • Amanda L. Thompson is supported by NIH NICHD grant K01 HD071948-01.
  • We thank the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (NIH 5 R24 HD050924) for general support.
  • Funding for this analysis was provided in part by the University Research Council, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  • The Microbiome Core Facility is supported in part by the NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases grant P30 DK34987.
Supplemental Material (URL)
Abstract
  • The development of the infant intestinal microbiome in response to dietary and other exposures may shape long-term metabolic and immune function. We examined differences in the community structure and function of the intestinal microbiome between four feeding groups, exclusively breastfed infants before introduction of solid foods (EBF), non-exclusively breastfed infants before introduction of solid foods (non-EBF), EBF infants after introduction of solid foods (EBF+S), and non-EBF infants after introduction of solid foods (non-EBF+S), and tested whether out-of-home daycare attendance was associated with differences in relative abundance of gut bacteria. Bacterial 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was performed on 49 stool samples collected longitudinally from a cohort of 9 infants (5 male, 4 female). PICRUSt metabolic inference analysis was used to identify metabolic impacts of feeding practices on the infant gut microbiome. Sequencing data identified significant differences across groups defined by feeding and daycare attendance. Non-EBF and daycare-attending infants had higher diversity and species richness than EBF and non-daycare attending infants. The gut microbiome of EBF infants showed increased proportions of Bifidobacterium and lower abundance of Bacteroidetes and Clostridiales than non-EBF infants. PICRUSt analysis indicated that introduction of solid foods had a marginal impact on the microbiome of EBF infants (24 enzymes overrepresented in EBF+S infants). In contrast, over 200 bacterial gene categories were overrepresented in non-EBF+S compared to non-EBF infants including several bacterial methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCP) involved in signal transduction. The identified differences between EBF and non-EBF infants suggest that breast milk may provide the gut microbiome with a greater plasticity (despite having a lower phylogenetic diversity) that eases the transition into solid foods.
Author Notes
  • Correspondence: M. A. Azcarate-Peril, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, 332 Isaac Taylor Hall, Campus Box 7545, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7545, USA e-mail: azcarate@med.unc.edu
Keywords
Research Categories
  • Biology, Genetics
  • Biology, Microbiology

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