Neonatal gut and respiratory microbiota: coordinated development through time and space

Area of Science:

• Microbiome research
• Infant health and development
• Neonatal immunology

Background:

• Early life microbiota plays a crucial role in infant immunity, metabolism, neurodevelopment, and overall health.
• Microbiome development occurs across multiple body sites with distinct compositions and functions.
• Interactions between microbiota at different body sites represent an understudied aspect of infant microbiome development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the co-occurrence patterns of gut and respiratory microbiota in preterm and full-term infants during their first year of life.
• To understand the influence of infant maturity and post-natal age on microbiome development.
• To explore the associations between microbiota at multiple body sites and their coordinated development.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal sampling of rectal, throat, and nasal microbiota from 38 preterm and 44 full-term infants.
• Clustering of microbiota into Community State Types (CSTs) based on compositional profiles.
• Analysis of CST occurrence patterns in relation to gestational age (GA), week of life (WOL), and post-menstrual age (PMA).

Main Results:

• CST manifestation followed chronological, birth maturity-idiosyncratic, or convergent patterns based on infant maturity.
• Microbiota composition varied significantly between body sites, yet CSTs at one site predicted CSTs at others.
• Significant associations between microbial taxa abundance and CSTs across body sites persisted after controlling for infant maturity.

Conclusions:

• Early infant microbiota development is shaped by neonatal immune responses.
• The temporal progression of CSTs is influenced by both birth maturity and post-natal age.
• Inter-site microbiota associations indicate coordinated development of the infant microbial ecosystem.