Pediatric Fecal Metagenome. human gut metagenome

Functional metagenomic selections were performed from various pediatric fecal metagenomes, enriched for children in the first two years of life. A major goal was to understand how antibiotic resistance genes establish and propagate among developing intestinal microbiomes. Fecal metagenomic DNA was cloned into an E. coli library and subjected to selections for antibiotic resistance. After selection, resistance-conferring fragments (the only fragments conferring survival to E. coli in the presence of the drugs) were PCR-amplified, sequenced, and assembled.

本研究从多种儿童粪便宏基因组样本中开展功能宏基因组筛选，所用样本均富集自出生后前两年的幼儿群体。本研究的核心目标为阐明抗生素抗性基因在发育中的肠道微生物组内的定植与传播机制。研究人员将粪便宏基因组DNA克隆至大肠杆菌（E. coli）文库中，并针对抗生素抗性开展筛选实验。筛选完成后，对赋予抗生素抗性的片段（即仅能使大肠杆菌在药物存在条件下存活的片段）进行PCR扩增、测序与组装。