Offspring inherit the profiles of maternal perturbed gut microbiota in mice

Vertical transmission of commensal bacteria highlights mother-infant bonding in humans and other mammals. Diverse factors can influence the maternal microbiota during perinatal periods. Perturbation of maternal microbiota further distorts the colonization of the gut microbiota of offspring, resulting in the long-term influence of developmental outcomes of the offspring. It remains unclear to what extent the offspring inherit the profiles of the perturbed maternal gut microbiota and whether postnatal interventions function to ameliorate the health outcomes. Here we show that when the maternal gut microbiota is perturbed during perinatal periods, the profiles of offspring gut microbiota well mirror the profiles of the perturbed maternal gut microbiota using a mouse model, in which the maternal gut microbiota is perturbed by administrating non-absorbable antibiotics to dams.