Upon delivery, the neonate is exposed for the first time to a wide array of microbes from a variety of sources, including maternal bacteria. Although prior studies have suggested that delivery mode shapes the microbiota's establishment and, subsequently, its role in child health, most researchers have focused on specific bacterial taxa or on a single body habitat, the gut. Thus, the initiation stage of human microbiome development remains obscure. The goal of the present study was to obtain a community-wide perspective on the influence of delivery mode and body habitat on the neonate's first microbiota. We used multiplexed 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing to characterize bacterial communities from mothers and their newborn babies, four born vaginally and six born via Cesarean section. Mothers' skin, oral mucosa, and vagina were sampled 1 h before delivery, and neonates' skin, oral mucosa, and nasopharyngeal aspirate were sampled <5 min, and meconium <24 h, after delivery. We found that in direct contrast to the highly differentiated communities of their mothers, neonates harbored bacterial communities that were undifferentiated across multiple body habitats, regardless of delivery mode. Our results also show that vaginally delivered infants acquired bacterial communities resembling their own mother's vaginal microbiota, dominated by Lactobacillus, Prevotella, or Sneathia spp., and C-section infants harbored bacterial communities similar to those found on the skin surface, dominated by Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium, and Propionibacterium spp. These findings establish an important baseline for studies tracking the human microbiome's successional development in different body habitats following different delivery modes, and their associated effects on infant health.
Experiment 1
Subjects
- Location of subjects
- Venezuela
- Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.
- Homo sapiens
- Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology
- Mucosa of oral region , Vagina , Skin of forehead , Skin of forearm Mucosa of oral opening,Mucosa of oral part of face,Mucosa of organ of oral opening,Mucosa of organ of oral part of face,Mucosa of organ of oral region,Mucosa of organ of subdivision of mouth,Mucosa of subdivision of mouth,Mucous membrane of oral opening,Mucous membrane of oral part of face,Mucous membrane of oral region,Mucous membrane of subdivision of mouth,Oral opening mucosa,Oral opening mucosa of organ,Oral opening mucous membrane,Oral opening organ mucosa,Oral part of face mucosa,Oral part of face mucosa of organ,Oral part of face mucous membrane,Oral part of face organ mucosa,Oral region mucosa,Oral region mucosa of organ,Oral region mucous membrane,Oral region organ mucosa,Organ mucosa of oral opening,Organ mucosa of oral part of face,Organ mucosa of oral region,Organ mucosa of subdivision of mouth,Subdivision of mouth mucosa,Subdivision of mouth mucosa of organ,Subdivision of mouth mucous membrane,Subdivision of mouth organ mucosa,Mucosa of oral region,mucosa of oral region,Vagina,vagina,Distal oviductal region,Distal portion of oviduct,Vaginae,Forehead skin,Skin of forehead,skin of forehead,Forearm skin,Lower arm skin,Lower segment of arm skin,Skin of antebrachial region,Skin of lower arm,Skin of lower segment of arm,Skin of zeugopod of arm,Skin of forearm,skin of forearm
- Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
- vaginal delivery (Va)
- Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
- C-section (Cesarean section)
- Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group
- 4
- Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group
- 5
Lab analysis
- Sequencing type
- 16S
- 16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene
- V2
- Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance
- Roche454
Statistical Analysis
- Statistical test
- ANOSIM
- Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any)
- 0.001