Effects of maternal Type 1 Diabetes on neonatal microbiomes

Body niche-specific microbiota in maternal-neonatal dyads from gravidae suffering from type 1 diabetes have not been quantitatively and functionally examined. Similarly, the impact of pregnancy specific factors, such as the occurrence of comorbidities known to occur more frequently among gravidae with type 1 diabetes including preeclampsia or indicated Cesarean delivery, initiation and duration of neonatal exclusive human milk feeding, level of glycemic control during each trimester of pregnancy, and medication use has not been adequatly considered. The aims of this study were to characterize the maternal and neonatal microbiomes, assess aspects of microbiota transfer from the maternal microbiomes to the neonatal microbiomes, and explore the impact of confounding variables such a cesarean section, antibiotic prophylaxis, and glycaemic control on the microbiota structure of the examined microbiomes.In order to control for these and other covariates and co-morbidities common among women with type 1 diabetes, we characterized microbiome community structure and function using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing in a total of 514 vaginal, rectal, and ear-skin swabs and stool samples derived from n=92 maternal - neonatal dyads with in-depth clinical metadata from throughout pregnancy and delivery.