Identical bacterial populations colonize premature infant gut, skin, and oral microbiomes and exhibit different in situ growth rates.

ABSTRACT: The initial microbiome impacts the health and future development of premature infants. Methodological limitations have led to gaps in our understanding of the habitat range and subpopulation complexity of founding strains, as well as how different body sites support microbial growth. Here, we used metagenomics to reconstruct genomes of strains that colonized the skin, mouth, and gut of two hospitalized premature infants during the first month of life. Seven bacterial populations, considered to be identical given whole-genome average nucleotide identity of >99.9%, colonized multiple body sites, yet none were shared between infants. Gut-associated Citrobacter koseri genomes harbored 47 polymorphic sites that we used to define 10 subpopulations, one of which appeared in the gut after 1

SUBMITTER: Olm MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5378178 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature