Abstract
Background: The human gut microbiota is inoculated at birth and undergoes a process of assembly and diversification during the first few years of life. Studies in mice and humans have revealed associations between the early-life gut microbiome and future susceptibility to immune and metabolic diseases. To resolve microbe and host contributing factors to early-life development and to disease states requires experimental platforms that support reproducible, longitudinal, and high-content analyses. Results: Here, we deployed a continuous single-stage chemostat culture model of the human distal gut to study gut microbiota from 18- to 24-month-old children integrating both culture-dependent and -independent methods. Chemostat cultures recapitulated multiple aspects of the fecal microbial ecosystem enabling investigation of relationships between bacterial strains and metabolic function, as well as a resource from which we isolated and curated a diverse library of early life bacterial strains. Conclusions: We report the reproducible, longitudinal dynamics of early-life bacterial communities cultured in an advanced model of the human gut providing an experimental approach and a characterized bacterial resource to support future investigations of the human gut microbiota in early childhood.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 255 |
Journal | Microbiome |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2024 |
Publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- Anexic isolation
- Bacterial metabolites
- Chemostat continuous culture
- Defined bacterial consortia
- Early childhood microbiome
Publication forum classification
- Publication forum level 3
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology
- Microbiology (medical)