Prenatal stress, the gut microbiota and infant susceptibility to malaria

The human microbiome is a collection of microorganisms, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and eukaryotes, and their genetic material, that live in and on the human body in a symbiotic relationship, responding to and influencing numerous physiological functions. Mothers share their microbiota with their infants, and having a healthy gut microbiota in place is critical for healthy, normal growth and development. There is an emerging understanding that the gut microbial community can be disrupted and imbalanced by infections, immunological insults, and emotional or psychological trauma or stress. Moreover, it is well established that fetal exposure to stress predicts a number of life-long disruptions of physical and mental health. Nonetheless, there remain many unknowns with regard to how stress during pregnancy impacts the maternal and infant gut microbiota and how prenatal stress and associated gut dysbiosis impact infant disease susceptibility. To fill these significant gaps in knowledge, this proposal will investigate the gut microbiota as a possible mechanism to mediate the impact of maternal stress on offspring infectious disease risk, with an emphasis on malaria.

人体微生物组（human microbiome）是定植于人体体表与体内的各类微生物（涵盖病毒、细菌、真菌与真核生物）及其遗传物质的集合，这类微生物以共生关系存在，可响应宿主生理信号并影响诸多生理功能。母体可与新生儿共享自身的微生物群，健康的肠道微生物群（gut microbiota）对于新生儿的正常健康生长与发育至关重要。当前学界的新兴研究认知显示，感染、免疫损伤、情绪或心理创伤与应激均可能导致肠道微生物群落遭到破坏并出现失衡。此外，已有充分研究证实，胎儿时期暴露于应激环境会引发诸多终身性的身心健康损害。然而，目前仍存在诸多未知之处：孕期应激如何影响母体与新生儿的肠道微生物群，以及产前应激及其伴随的肠道菌群失调（gut dysbiosis）如何影响新生儿的疾病易感性。为填补这些重大的知识空白，本研究计划将探究肠道微生物群作为介导母体应激对子代感染性疾病风险影响的潜在机制，研究重点聚焦于疟疾（malaria）。