Bacterial community assembly of specific pathogen-free neonatal mice.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Neonatal mice are frequently used to model diseases that affect human infants. Microbial community composition has been shown to impact disease progression in these models. Despite this, the maturation of the early-life murine microbiome has not been well-characterized. We address this gap by characterizing the assembly of the bacterial microbiota of C57BL/6 and BALB/c litters from birth to adulthood across multiple independent litters.

Results

The fecal microbiome of young pups is dominated by only a few pioneering bacterial taxa. These taxa are present at low levels in the microbiota of multiple maternal body sites, precluding a clear identification of maternal source. The pup microbiota begins diversifying after 14 days, coinciding with the beginning of coproph

SUBMITTER: Kennedy EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11804086 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature