Raw data microbiota development Panda Study

In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, a probiotic mixture consisting of B. bifidum W23, B. lactis W52 and Lc. Lactis W58 (Ecologic® Panda) was administered to pregnant women during the last 6 weeks of pregnancy and to their offspring during the first year of life. During follow-up, faecal samples were collected from 99 children over a 6-year period with the following time points: first week, second week, first month, three months, first year, eighteen months, two years and six years. Bacterial profiling was performed by IS-pro. IS-pro combines bacterial species differentiation by the length of the 16S-23S rRNA interspace region with instant taxonomic classification by phylum-specific fluorescent labeling of PCR-primers. The 16S-23S rRNA IS region is variable in size and sequence, making it well suitable for analysis of complex communities. It was demonstrated that profiles are reproducible and that log2 transformation enables both the identification of slight variations between related profiles, as well as correlation analysis of large sets of profiles. Is-pro does not generate sequence data in a traditional sense. This means IS-pro cannot achieve the same level of detail as next-generation sequencing techniques, although sequence data confirmed specificity of IS-pro in 15 common peaks, underlining the validity of the technique. Each sample is represented by a microbial profile, consisting of color-labeled peaks. Each peak is characterized by a specific IS fragment (measured in number of nucleotides) and a color related to a specific phylum group. The intensity of peaks reflects the quantity of PCR product (measured in relative fluorescence units (RFU)). Each peak is designated as an operational taxonomic unit (OTU) and its corresponding intensity as abundance. Intensity values are log2 transformed in order to compact the range of variation in peak heights, to reduce the dominance of abundant peaks and to include less abundant species of the microbiota in downstream analyses. Here we share the raw data of the IS-pro analysis.