Summary: A new pattern of vertical transmission of the microbiome between mother and child has been reported. Researchers say microbes in the maternal gut share genes with those in the infant gut during the perinatal period directly after birth until a few weeks after birth.
Source: Cell Press
Researchers have discovered a new mode of vertical transmission of the microbiome from mother to infant, where maternal gut microbes share genes with infant gut microbes during the perinatal period beginning immediately before birth and extending during the first weeks after birth.
This horizontal gene transfer allowed maternal microbial strains to influence the functional capacity of the infant microbiome, in the absence of persistent transmission from the microbial strains themselves.
Such a large-scale integrative analysis, presented on December 22 in the journal Cellprovides a series of high-resolution snapshots of gut colonization dynamics that influence infant development before and after birth.
“This is the first study to describe the transfer of mobile genetic elements between maternal and infant microbiomes,” says the study’s lead author, Ramnik Xavier, of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
“Our study also, for the first time, integrated the gut microbiome and metabolomic profiles of mothers and infants and uncovered links between gut metabolites, bacteria and breast milk substrates. This investigation represents a unique perspective on the co-development of infant gut microbiomes and metabolomes under the influence of known maternal and dietary factors.
Gut bacteria promote the maturation of the immune system in part through the production of microbial metabolites. The development of the infant gut microbiome follows predictable patterns, beginning with the transmission of microbes from the mother at birth. In addition to the maturation of the immune system, microbial metabolites also influence early cognitive development.
The perinatal period represents a critical window for the development of the cognitive and immune system, favored by the maternal and infant intestinal microbiota and their metabolites. Nevertheless, the co-development of microbiomes and metabolomes during the perinatal period and the determinants of this process are not well understood.
To address this knowledge gap, Xavier and colleagues tracked the co-development of microbiomes and metabolomes from late pregnancy to one year of age using longitudinal multi-omics data from a cohort of 70 mother-child dyads. They found large-scale interspecific transfer from mother to infant of mobile genetic elements, frequently involving genes associated with diet-related adaptations.
Infant gut metabolomes were less diverse than maternal metabolomes, but had hundreds of unique metabolites and undetected microbe-metabolite associations in mothers. Metabolomes and serum cytokine signatures of infants who received regular, but not heavily hydrolyzed, formula were distinct from those of exclusively breastfed infants.
“The infant’s gut harbored thousands of unique metabolites, many of which were likely modified from breast milk substrates by gut bacteria,” says Tommi Vatanen, co-first author of the study with Karolina Jabbar, both from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. “Many of these metabolites likely impact the immune system and cognitive development.”
Pregnancy was associated with an increase in steroid compounds, including gonadal hormone derivatives and bile acid biosynthesis intermediates, several of which were independently linked to impaired glucose tolerance. Although infant gut metabolomes are less diverse than maternal metabolomes, researchers have detected more than 2,500 metabolomes unique to infants.
Additionally, they identified many infant-specific associations of bacterial species and fecal metabolites, including neurotransmitters and immune modulators.
“We were surprised to find that maternal gut bacteria rarely seen in infants contributed to the structure of the infant gut microbiome,” says Xavier. “We also found evidence that prophages – dormant bacteriophages or viruses that reside on bacterial genomes – contribute to the exchange of mobile genetic elements between maternal and infant microbiomes.”
The authors say that the maternal microbiome can shape the infant gut microbiome through horizontal gene transfer, apart from the classic vertical transmission of strains and species. Additionally, the identification of distinctive metabolomic profiles and microbial-metabolite interactions in the infant gut provides a platform for further investigation of microbial contributions to infant development.
One of the limitations of the study was that the researchers did not take into account changes in diet and lifestyle between pregnancy and the postpartum period, which may have affected alterations in the microbiome and the metabolome. In future studies, they plan to further explore the links between bacteria and metabolites and to investigate strain-specific bacterial metabolic production using isolated bacteria in vitro.
“Taken together, our integrative analysis expands the concept of vertical transmission of the gut microbiome and provides novel insights into the development of maternal and infant microbiomes and metabolomes in late pregnancy and early life,” says Xavier.
About this microbiome research news
Author: Press office
Source: Cell Press
Contact: Press office – Cell press
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See also
Original research: free access.
“Mobile genetic elements of the maternal microbiome shape infant gut microbial assembly and metabolismby Ramnik J. Xavier et al. Cell
Abstract
Mobile genetic elements of the maternal microbiome shape infant gut microbial assembly and metabolism
Strong points
- Mobile genetic elements of maternal bacteria shape the gut microbiomes of offspring
- Microbiome and Metabolome Changes During Pregnancy May Impact Maternal Metabolic Health
- The infant gut harbors unique metabolites and species-metabolite relationships
- Diet modulates metabolomic profiles and immune system maturation in infants
summary
The perinatal period represents a critical window for cognitive and immune system development, promoted by maternal and infant gut microbiomes and their metabolites.
Here, we tracked the co-development of microbiomes and metabolomes from late pregnancy to 1 year using longitudinal multi-omics data from a cohort of 70 mother-infant dyads.
We found large-scale mother-to-child interspecific transfer of mobile genetic elements, frequently involving genes associated with diet-related adaptations. Infant gut metabolomes were less diverse than maternal ones, but included hundreds of unique metabolites and undetected microbe-metabolite associations in mothers.
The metabolomes and serum cytokine signatures of infants who received regular, but not extensively hydrolyzed, formula were distinct from those of exclusively breastfed infants.
Taken together, our integrative analysis expands the concept of vertical transmission of the gut microbiome and provides novel insights into the development of maternal and infant microbiomes and metabolomes in late pregnancy and early life.
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