Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Co-culture of Living Microbiome with Microengineered Human Intestinal Villi in a Gut-on-a-Chip Microfluidic Device
10:51

Co-culture of Living Microbiome with Microengineered Human Intestinal Villi in a Gut-on-a-Chip Microfluidic Device

Published on: August 30, 2016

Early-life microbiota in the LIMIT cohort: unveiling meconium microbiota types beyond maternal lifestyle

Dana El Masri1, Niccolò Meriggi2, Federica Loperfido1

  • 1Laboratory of Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition, Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.

Gut Microbes
|August 5, 2026
PubMed
Abstract

Insights

Maternal factors like pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain did not significantly alter meconium microbiota diversity. However, distinct microbial clusters were identified, suggesting enterotype-like structures in early gut colonization.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiome Research
  • Human Health
  • Prenatal Development

Background:

  • Early gut microbiota is crucial for lifelong health.
  • Meconium provides insights into prenatal microbial exposure.
  • Maternal factors may influence infant gut microbiome development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate associations between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, gestational weight gain (GWG), and lifestyle factors with meconium microbiota structure.
  • Identify distinct microbial clusters within meconium samples.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of 168 meconium samples using targeted long-read sequencing (Oxford Nanopore PromethION).
  • Bacterial 16S rRNA (V1-V8) amplicon sequencing.
  • Supervised and unsupervised learning (Partitioning Around Medoids - PAM) to analyze associations and identify microbial clusters.

Main Results:

  • No significant associations found between GWG, pre-BMI, or lifestyle factors and overall meconium microbial diversity.
  • Unsupervised learning identified five distinct meconium microbial clusters ('microbiota-types') with unique taxonomic profiles.

Conclusions:

  • Studied maternal variables did not significantly influence meconium microbiota composition.
  • Meconium microbial communities exhibit enterotype-like structures.
  • Longitudinal studies are needed to determine key factors in early gut colonization.
Keywords:
16S rRNA sequencingEarly gut microbiotagestational weight gainlifestyle factorsmeconium analysispre-pregnancy BMIunsupervised analysis

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