HELMi infant and parental stool WGS metagenomes

The Health and Early-Life Microbiota (HELMi) is a cohort study of 1055 healthy Finnish infants who are currently followed from birth until 4 to 5 years of age. The HELMi infant-parents WGS dataset is composed of fecal samples from infants collected from 3 weeks of age to 1 year and parents' (pregnant mother and father or non-pregnant partner) stool samples collected in the last weeks of pregnancy. Infant stool samples were collected at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months of age. The samples were collected by the parents at home and samples were stored at home at -20°C until being brought to the lab in frozen form. Upon receival the samples were immediately stored at -80°C until processing. Fecal DNA was generated by repeated beat beating method and stool WGS metagenomes were generated through MGI sequencing technology. The study protocols have been approved by the ethical committee of The Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (263/13/03/03 2015 and HUS/2126/2020) and are performed in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The guardians have provided an informed, written consent. participation is voluntary and the participants can withdraw from the study at any point. The study does not include any invasive procedures for infants.