TY - JOUR
T1 - The early life microbiota mediates maternal effects on offspring growth in a nonhuman primate
AU - Petrullo, Lauren
AU - Baniel, Alice
AU - Jorgensen, Matthew J.
AU - Sams, Sierra
AU - Snyder-Mackler, Noah
AU - Lu, Amy
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the veterinary and technical staff of the Vervet Research Colony, especially Edison Floyd and Chrissy Long, for their role in sample collections, and Katie Hinde for providing expertise and protocol guidance for milk sample collection. We would also like to thank Andreas Koenig, Carola Borries, and anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health CTSA pilot grant ( UL1-TR001420 , Donald Mcclain PI), a P40 grant ( OD010965 , Matthew Jorgensen PI), Stony Brook University , the University of Washington , and the Dr. W. Burghardt Turner Fellowship and AGEP-T FRAME Fellowship programs at Stony Brook University (to L.P.).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/3/18
Y1 - 2022/3/18
N2 - Maternal parity can impact offspring growth, but the mechanisms driving this effect are unclear. Here, we test the hypothesis that vertically transmitted microbiota may be one potential mechanism. We analyzed 118 fecal and milk samples from mother-offspring vervet monkey dyads across the first 6 months of life. Despite poorer milk production, offspring born to low parity females grew larger than their counterparts. These offspring exhibited reduced alpha diversity in the first days of life, stronger seeding of maternal milk microbiota, Bacteroides fragilis dominance, and a greater abundance of glycan utilization pathways. Moreover, the attainment of greater body mass by 6 months of age was mediated by reduced early life alpha diversity and B. fragilis dominance. This work demonstrates that the establishment of a specialized, milk-oriented gut microbiota promotes infant growth and suggests an evolutionarily conserved developmental role of B. fragilis in primates.
AB - Maternal parity can impact offspring growth, but the mechanisms driving this effect are unclear. Here, we test the hypothesis that vertically transmitted microbiota may be one potential mechanism. We analyzed 118 fecal and milk samples from mother-offspring vervet monkey dyads across the first 6 months of life. Despite poorer milk production, offspring born to low parity females grew larger than their counterparts. These offspring exhibited reduced alpha diversity in the first days of life, stronger seeding of maternal milk microbiota, Bacteroides fragilis dominance, and a greater abundance of glycan utilization pathways. Moreover, the attainment of greater body mass by 6 months of age was mediated by reduced early life alpha diversity and B. fragilis dominance. This work demonstrates that the establishment of a specialized, milk-oriented gut microbiota promotes infant growth and suggests an evolutionarily conserved developmental role of B. fragilis in primates.
KW - Microbiology
KW - Microbiome
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125595189&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85125595189&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103948
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103948
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85125595189
SN - 2589-0042
VL - 25
JO - iScience
JF - iScience
IS - 3
M1 - 103948
ER -