Highly Specialized Carbohydrate Metabolism Capability in Bifidobacterium Strains Associated with Intestinal Barrier Maturation in Early Preterm Infants.

ABSTRACT: "Leaky gut," or high intestinal barrier permeability, is common in preterm newborns. The role of the microbiota in this process remains largely uncharacterized. We employed both short- and long-read sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and metagenomes to characterize the intestinal microbiome of a longitudinal cohort of 113 preterm infants born between 24^0/7 and 32^6/7 weeks of gestation. Enabled by enhanced taxonomic resolution, we found that a significantly increased abundance of Bifidobacterium breve and a diet rich in mother's breastmilk were associated with intestinal barrier maturation during the first week of life. We combined these factors using genome-resolved metagenomics and identified a highly specialized genetic capability of the Bifidobacterium strains

SUBMITTER: Ma B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9239261 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature