Abstract

Gut microbiota, gradually established during the first years of life, participates in maturation of physiological functions. Early gut microbiota establishment is suggested to be an important factor for the health of the infant and future adult. In this context, we propose to identify early intestinal microbiota signatures or predictive microbiota profiles in children of the occurrence of overweight and obesity.  

The aim of the current project is to analyze the fecal microbiota collected at 3.5-year-olds of 400 children, 200 fullterm and 200 preterm, using the same technique. Our team will perform total fecal DNA extraction using the MetaHit method, amplification of 16S rDNA variable regions (V3-V4), and analysis of sequence data obtained from Illumina platform (Miseq).  

The diversity and phylogenetic composition of the microbiota at 3.5 years of age will be characterized. Specific bacterial clusters that best define microbiota at 3.5 years and their relationship with overweight will be searched. Microbiota profiles will be compared between fullterm and pre-term infants to determine the impact of prematurity on long-term microbiota establishment and its clinical implications.  

This study will provide new and accurate answers on the early-life programming, identifying early risk factors and/or biomarkers within the microbiota for obesity development in two populations of children with diverse early life conditions linked to premature or full-term births. These innovative results would allow the development of early preventive approaches based on targeted modifications of the microbiota in infants.


Project Updates

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Deliverable 1 sample collection: Two hundred infants from the 618 collected infants from the ELFE cohort were randomly selected in January.  Transfer of samples to the lab achieved. DNA extractions and amplifications to be performed and sent to an external platform for sequencing by end of April.

Deliverable 2 is to analyze of the intestinal microbiota composition using 16S metagenomic.  

Total DNA has been extracted from all fecal samples from EPIPAGE 2 cohort, and 190 out of 200 fecal samples from the ELFE cohort. DNA concentration and integrity will be determined spectrophotometrically by Nanodrop. All fecal DNA extracts were amplified by PCR using universal bacterial primers to amplify the variable V3-V4 regions of 16S rRNA gene.

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