Infant gut microbiome study

In the past three decades, dietary and lifestyle changes worldwide have resulted in a global increase in the prevalence of obesity in both adults and children. Known to be highly influenced by genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors, obesity is characterized by a low grade chronic inflammation that contributes to the development of other metabolic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Recently, the gut microbiome has been added as a cause to the development of obesity. As differences in the microbiome between obese and normoweight individuals have been observed, we set out to determine whether infants harbor an obesogenic microbiome early on and whether the pre-pregnancy status of the mother is correlated to their infants microbiome composition. Using shotgun sequencing, we analyzed stool samples throughout the first year of life from infants born to obese and normoweight mothers. We found that the infants microbiome diversity at taxonomic and functional levels was significantly influenced by time but not by the mothers pre pregnancy status. Overall, no deterministic succession of taxa or functions was observed.