Longitudinal metagenomic analysis of the gut microbiome in preterm infants diagnosed with necrotising enterocolitis and matched controls

Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is a severe intestinal disease affecting predominantly preterm infants. The mechanisms leading to disease onset are poorly understood. Gut rich in Proteobacteria has been associated with disease onset, even though no specific causative microorganism has been identified. Moreover, intestinal microbiome instability seems to precede NEC development. To date, preterm microbiome studies relied mostly on 16S rRNA gene sequencing which allows to retrieve information down to the genus level, while metagenomic sequencing allows to identify species and gene content harboured by a microbial community. In this study, we applied metagenomic sequencing on longitudinal stool samples from 14 infants affected from NEC and 34 matched controls. A total of 644 stool samples were analysed, with samples ranging from birth up to 500 days of life.