Xiong Shimao, Xie Bing, Yin Naiyi, Zhu Hongmei, Gao Huimin, Xu Xue, Xiao Kang, Cai Xiaolin, Sun Guoxin, Sun Xiuli, Cui Yanshan, Van de Wiele Tom, Zhu Yongguan
College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101408, China.
Research Center for Eco-Environment Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jun 4;16(1):5186. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60508-8.
Infancy is a critical window for the colonization of gut microbiome. However, xenobiotic impacts on gut microbiome development in early life remain poorly understood. Here, we recruit 146 mother-infant pairs and collect stool samples at 3, 6, and 12 months after delivery for amplicon sequencing (N = 353), metagenomics (N = 65), and metabolomics (N = 198). Trace elements in maternal hair samples (N = 119) affect diversity and composition of the infant gut microbiome. Shannon diversity in 3 month-old infants is correlated positively with selenium and negatively with copper, and relative abundance of Bifidobacterium increases under high exposure to aluminum and manganese. During the first year of life, infants and their paired mothers have distinct microbial diversity and composition, and their bacterial community structures gradually approach. here are 56 differential metabolites between the first and second visit and 515 differential metabolites between the second and third visit. The typical profile of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) significantly differs between infants and their mothers. High levels of copper and arsenic exposure may induce the enrichment of ARGs in the infant gut. Our findings highlight the dynamics of the gut microbiome, metabolites, and ARG profiles of mother-infant pairs after delivery, associated with prenatal exposure to trace elements.
婴儿期是肠道微生物群定殖的关键窗口期。然而，外源物质对生命早期肠道微生物群发育的影响仍知之甚少。在此，我们招募了146对母婴，并在分娩后3、6和12个月收集粪便样本，用于扩增子测序（N = 353）、宏基因组学（N = 65）和代谢组学（N = 198）。母体头发样本（N = 119）中的微量元素会影响婴儿肠道微生物群的多样性和组成。3个月大婴儿的香农多样性与硒呈正相关，与铜呈负相关，在高铝和锰暴露下双歧杆菌的相对丰度增加。在生命的第一年，婴儿及其配对母亲具有不同的微生物多样性和组成，且其细菌群落结构逐渐趋同。第一次和第二次访视之间有56种差异代谢物，第二次和第三次访视之间有515种差异代谢物。婴儿与其母亲之间抗生素抗性基因（ARG）的典型谱存在显著差异。高铜和高砷暴露可能会诱导婴儿肠道中ARG的富集。我们的研究结果突出了分娩后母婴对肠道微生物群、代谢物和ARG谱的动态变化，这些变化与产前微量元素暴露有关。
