Scientific Publications by FDA Staff

Pediatr Res 2017 Nov;82(5):829-38

Association of the gut microbiota mobilome with hospital location and birth weight in preterm infants.

Ravi A, Estensmo ELF, L'Abee-Lund TM, Foley SL, Allgaier B, Martin CR, Claud EC, Rudi K

BACKGROUND: The preterm infant gut microbiota is vulnerable to different biotic and abiotic factors. Although the development of this microbiota has been extensively studied, the mobilome i.e., mobile genetic elements(MGEs) in the gut microbiota has not been considered. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association of the mobilome with the birthweight and hospital location in the preterm infant gut microbiota. METHODS: The dataset consists of fecal samples from 62 preterm infants with and without NEC from three different hospitals. We analysed the gut microbiome by using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, shot-gun metagenome sequencing and quantitative PCR. Predictive models and other data analyses was performed using MATLAB and QIIME. RESULTS: The microbiota composition was significantly different between NEC-positive and negative infants and significantly different between hospitals. An OTU showed strong positive and negative correlation to NEC and birthweight respectively, while none showed significance for mode of delivery. Metagenome analyses revealed high levels of conjugative plasmids with MGEs and virulence genes. By quantitative PCR, plasmid signature genes were signifinatly different between hospitals and in NEC-positive infants. CONCLUSION: Our results point towards association of the mobilome in preterm infants to the hospital location.