Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 7, 2025
Probiotic Studies in Neonatal Mice Using Gavage
Published on: January 27, 2019
The infant pharyngeal microbiomes: origin, impact and manipulation
Anastasia A Theodosiou1, Robert B Dorey1, Robert C Read1,2
1Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine.
Insights
Research on the infant microbiome shows pharyngeal microbiota are linked to health outcomes like asthma. Further study is needed to understand acquisition, environmental impacts, and standardize methods for potential interventions.
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.
Purpose Of Review:
There has been an exponential increase in research into infant microbiome evolution, and it appears that pharyngeal microbiota are associated with clinical phenotypes (e.g. infection and asthma). Although broad consensus views are emerging, significant challenges and uncertainties remain.
Recent Findings:
Infant pharyngeal microbiome research is limited by low biomass, high temporal diversity and lack of agreed standards for sampling, DNA sequencing and taxonomic reporting. Analysis of amplicon sequence variants and improved cost and availability of whole-genome sequencing are promising options for improving taxonomic resolution of such studies. Infant respiratory microbiomes arise, at least in part, from maternal flora (e.g. the respiratory tract and breastmilk), and are associated with environmental and clinical factors (e.g. mode of feeding and delivery, siblings, daycare attendance, birth season and antibiotic usage). Interventional research to modify the infant pharyngeal microbiota has recently been reported, using dietary supplements.
Summary:
Further work is needed to improve characterization of the infant pharyngeal microbiomes, including routes of bacterial acquisition, role of environmental factors and associations with disease phenotypes. Methodological standards are desirable to facilitate more reproducible, comparable research. Improved understanding may enable manipulation of infant pharyngeal microbiota to improve clinical outcomes.
Related Concept Videos
01:23Anatomy of the Intestines
Small Intestines
The small intestine is an ~7 meter-long tube with an inner diameter of just 2.5 cm. Since most nutrients are absorbed here, the inner lining of the...
01:28History of Microbiology
01:29Microorganisms in Medicine and Therapeutics
01:23Pharmacokinetics in Pediatric Patients: Overview and Drug Absorption
01:29Bacterial Flora of the Large Intestine
The normal gut flora of the colon plays a critical role in generating essential vitamins such as vitamins K, B5, and B7.
01:22Development of Immunocompetence
The initial cells that migrate from the fetal thymus settle within the skin and epithelial tissues lining the mouth, digestive tract, and in females, the uterus and vagina. These cells, including skin-based dendritic cells, serve as antigen-presenting cells, playing a key role in T cell activation.
Subsequent T...