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

• Published in: Scientific reports 2017-08, Vol.7 (1), p.10097-11, Article 10097
• Main Authors: Nagpal, Ravinder, Kurakawa, Takashi, Tsuji, Hirokazu, Takahashi, Takuya, Kawashima, Kazunari, Nagata, Satoru, Nomoto, Koji, Yamashiro, Yuichiro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 45/77; 45/90; 631/326/2522; 631/326/2565/2134; 82/16; Babies; Bifidobacterium; Bifidobacterium - isolation & purification; Bottle Feeding; Breast Feeding; Cesarean Section; Child, Preschool; Colonization; Feces - microbiology; Feeding behavior; Female; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Intestinal microflora; Japan; Male; multidisciplinary; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Reverse transcription; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Species Specificity; Yogurt
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-10711-5

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 log 10  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.