The infant pharyngeal microbiomes: origin, impact and manipulation.

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Pediatrics
• Genomics

Background:

• Infant microbiome research is rapidly expanding.
• Pharyngeal microbiota are increasingly linked to infant health conditions such as infections and asthma.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review current understanding of infant pharyngeal microbiome evolution.
• To identify challenges and future directions in infant microbiome research.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent findings in infant pharyngeal microbiome studies.
• Discussion of methodological limitations including low biomass and lack of standardized protocols.
• Exploration of advanced sequencing techniques like amplicon sequence variants and whole-genome sequencing.

Main Results:

• Infant respiratory microbiomes originate partly from maternal flora and are influenced by various environmental and clinical factors.
• Interventional studies using dietary supplements to modify the infant pharyngeal microbiota have begun.

Conclusions:

• Further research is required to fully characterize infant pharyngeal microbiomes, including acquisition routes and environmental influences.
• Establishing methodological standards is crucial for reproducible and comparable research.
• Improved understanding may lead to interventions targeting the infant microbiome for better clinical outcomes.