Trait-based community assembly and succession of the infant gut microbiome

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Developmental Biology
• Ecology

Background:

• The human gut microbiome plays a crucial role in digestion and immune system development during early childhood.
• The precise mechanisms governing the development and succession of the infant gut microbiome are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate trait-based patterns of gut microbiome succession in infants.
• To develop and apply a novel phylogeny-based method for inferring microbial traits.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of curated literature and online repository data from 56 infants over their first three years.
• Development of a phylogeny-based approach to infer microbial trait values.

Main Results:

• Infant gut microbiome succession shows a shift from a functionally variable to a functionally uniform community.
• Early infant microbiomes comprise rapidly proliferating taxa, maturing into taxa adapted for anoxic environments and spore dispersal.
• Functional composition stabilizes after the first year, despite ongoing taxonomic changes, indicating functional redundancy.

Conclusions:

• Trait-based analysis provides powerful complementary insights to taxonomy-based methods for understanding microbial community assembly.
• The study elucidates key functional shifts in the developing infant gut microbiome, highlighting adaptation to the anoxic environment and dispersal strategies.