Evolution of gut Bifidobacterium population in healthy Japanese infants over the first three years of life: a quantitative assessment

Abstract

Bifidobacteria are important members of human gut microbiota; however, quantitative data on their early-life dynamics is limited. Here, using a sensitive reverse transcription-qPCR approach, we demonstrate the carriage of eight signature infant-associated Bifidobacterium species (B. longum, B. breve, B. bifidum, B. catenulatum group, B. infantis, B. adolescentis, B. angulatum and B. dentium) in 76 healthy full-term vaginally-born infants from first day to three years of life. About 21% babies carry bifidobacteria at first day of life (6.2 ± 1.9 log10 cells/g feces); and this carriage increases to 64% (8.0 ± 2.2), 79% (8.5 ± 2.1), 97% (9.3 ± 1.8), 99% (9.6 ± 1.6), and 100% (9.7 ± 0.9) at age 7 days, 1, 3 and 6 months, and 3 years, respectively. B. longum, B. breve, B. catenulatum group and B. bifidum are among the earliest and abundant bifidobacterial clades. Interestingly, infants starting formula-feed as early as first week of life have higher bifidobacterial carriage compared to exclusively breast-fed counterparts. Bifidobacteria demonstrate an antagonistic correlation with enterobacteria and enterococci. Further analyses also reveal a relatively lower/ delayed bifidobacterial carriage in cesarean-born babies. The study presents a quantitative perspective of the early-life gut Bifidobacterium colonization and shows how factors such as birth and feeding modes could influence this acquisition even in healthy infants.

Breast milk-derived human milk oligosaccharides promote Bifidobacterium interactions within a single ecosystem

“…We isolated a significant number of diverse bifidobacterial strains and species including members commonly associated with infants including B. infantis, B. longum, B. breve, and B. pseudocatenulatum from three healthy, breast-fed infants [48,49]. We identified genotypic and phenotypic differences between these strains and species within a single infant a Schematic illustrating experimental set-up and preparation of conditioned media for cross-feeding experiments.…”

Gut Microbiota Composition in Healthy Japanese Infants and Young Adults Born by C-Section

“…angulatum, and B. dentium), we reported that compared to infants born vaginally, cesarean-born infants have a noticeably lower carriage of major bifidobacterial groups during the first 3 months [21]. In addition, cesarean-born infants exhibit lower/delayed carriage of several bifidobacterial members, primarily B. catenulatum group, B. dentium, and B. infantis, during the first 6 months of life, and the number of Bifidobacterium species detected during the first 6 months also remains lower in cesarean-born infants [21]. However, again, these differences tend to disappear by 3 years of age.…”

“…This suggests that the mother-baby transmission of bifidobacteria does occur to some extent even in cesarean-born babies, but the incidence and/or array of this transmission is relatively lower compared to that in the case of vaginal birth. Yet, these data hint that most of the bifidobacterial species in the newborn gut are acquired from the mother and that the birth mode could influence the evolution of these species during first few months of life [21].…”

Effect of Delivery Mode and Nutrition on Gut Microbiota in Neonates

“…Nevertheless, some studies reported differences in microbiota between feeding types. Nagpal et al [30] followed the gut microbiome of healthy Japanese infants for 3 years according to their feeding types using highly sensitive reverse transcription quantitative PCR. Infants starting formula-fed supplementation as early as the first week of life were shown to have higher bifidobacterial carriage during first 6 months of life compared with exclusively breastfed counterparts.…”