Early Respiratory Microbiota Composition Determines Bacterial Succession Patterns and Respiratory Health in Children
Top Cited Papers
- 1 December 2014
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Thoracic Society in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
- Vol. 190 (11), 1283-1292
- https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201407-1240oc
Abstract
Many bacterial pathogens causing respiratory infections in children are common residents of the respiratory tract. Insight into bacterial colonization patterns and microbiota stability at a young age might elucidate healthy or susceptible conditions for development of respiratory disease. To study bacterial succession of the respiratory microbiota in the first 2 years of life and its relation to respiratory health characteristics. Upper respiratory microbiota profiles of 60 healthy children at the ages of 1.5, 6, 12, and 24 months were characterized by 16S-based pyrosequencing. We determined consecutive microbiota profiles by machine-learning algorithms and validated the findings cross-sectionally in an additional cohort of 140 children per age group. Overall, we identified eight distinct microbiota profiles in the upper respiratory tract of healthy infants. Profiles could already be identified at 1.5 months of age and were associated with microbiota stability and change over the first 2 years of life. More stable patterns were marked by early presence and high abundance of Moraxella and Corynebacterium/Dolosigranulum and were positively associated with breastfeeding in the first period of life and with lower rates of parental-reported respiratory infections in the consecutive periods. Less stable profiles were marked by high abundance of Haemophilus or Streptococcus. These findings provide novel insights into microbial succession in the respiratory tract in infancy and link early-life profiles to microbiota stability and respiratory health characteristics. New prospective studies should elucidate potential implications of our findings for early diagnosis and prevention of respiratory infections. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00189020).Keywords
This publication has 43 references indexed in Scilit:
- Human gut microbiome viewed across age and geographyNature, 2012
- The human microbiome: at the interface of health and diseaseNature Reviews Genetics, 2012
- Successful Transmission of a Retrovirus Depends on the Commensal MicrobiotaScience, 2011
- The skin microbiomeNature Reviews Microbiology, 2011
- Individuality in gut microbiota composition is a complex polygenic trait shaped by multiple environmental and host genetic factorsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Succession of microbial consortia in the developing infant gut microbiomeProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Introducing mothur: Open-Source, Platform-Independent, Community-Supported Software for Describing and Comparing Microbial CommunitiesApplied and Environmental Microbiology, 2009
- High Rates of Transmission of and Colonization by Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae within a Day Care Center Revealed in a Longitudinal StudyJournal of Clinical Microbiology, 2008
- The Human Microbiome ProjectNature, 2007
- Streptococcus pneumoniae colonisation: the key to pneumococcal diseaseThe Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2004