Metagenome of human breastmilk and infant gut

The gut microbiome co-develops with the immune system in infants and plays an important role in maintaining host homeostasis. The mechanisms of initial acquisition and development of the microbiome are poorly understood. Breast milk contains a diverse population of bacteria, but very little is known about the vertical transfer of microbes from mother to infant by breastfeeding.In this study, breast milk, areolar skin swab, and infant stool samples were prospectively and longitudinally collected from 107 healthy mother-infant pairs. The bacterial component was characterized by 16S sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq platform.