Strain-Level Analysis of Mother-to-Child Bacterial Transmission during the First Few Months of Life

: Moran Yassour, Eeva Jason, Larson J. Hogstrom, Timothy D. Arthur, Surya Tripathi, Heli Siljander, Jenni Selvenius, Sami Oikarinen, Heikki Hyöty, Suvi M. Virtanen, Jorma Ilonen, Pamela Ferretti, Edoardo Pasolli, Adrian Tett, Francesco Asnicar, Nicola Segata, Hera Vlamakis, Eric S. Lander, Curtis Huttenhower, Mikael Knip, Ramnik J. Xavier

Publisher: CELL PRESS

: 2018

Cell Host and Microbe

CELL HOST & MICROBE

: CELL HOST MICROBE

: 24

: 1

: 146

: 154.e4

: 13

: 1931-3128

: 1934-6069

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2018.06.007

Bacterial community acquisition in the infant gut impacts immune education and disease susceptibility. We compared bacterial strains across and within families in a prospective birth cohort of 44 infants and their mothers, sampled longitudinally in the first months of each child's life. We identified mother-to-child bacterial transmission events and describe the incidence of family-specific antibiotic resistance genes. We observed two inheritance patterns across multiple species, where often the mother's dominant strain is transmitted to the child, but occasionally her secondary strains colonize the infant gut. In families where the secondary strain of B. uniformis was inherited, a starch utilization gene cluster that was absent in the mother's dominant strain was identified in the child, suggesting the selective advantage of a mother's secondary strain in the infant gut. Our findings reveal mother-to-child bacterial transmission events at high resolution and give insights into early colonization of the infant gut.