Abstract
The mother’s vaginal microbiota represents the first microbes to which a child is exposed when delivered vaginally. However, little is known about the composition and development of the vaginal microbiota during pregnancy and birth. Here, we analyzed the vaginal microbiota of 57 women in pregnancy week 24, 36 and at birth after rupture of membranes but before delivery, and further compared the composition with that of the gut and airways of the 1-week-old child. The vaginal community structure had dramatic changes in bacterial diversity and taxonomic distribution, yet carried an individual-specific signature. The relative abundance of most bacterial taxa increased stepwise from week 24 of pregnancy until birth, with a gradual decline of Lactobacillus. Mother-to-child vertical transfer, as suggested by sharing, was modest, with the strongest transfer being for Clostridiales followed by Lactobacillales and Enterobacteriales. In conclusion, late gestation is associated with an increase in maternal vaginal microbiota diversity, and vaginal bacteria at birth only modestly predict the composition of the neonatal microbiota.
Highlights
ObjectivesThe objective of the present study was to analyze the natural progression of the maternal vaginal microbial composition during the second half of pregnancy and birth, and its importance for the early neonatal microbial colonization, studying mother–child pairs from the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood2010 (COPSAC2010) pregnancy and birth cohort [8]
A healthy fetus is considered free of microorganisms, and the important initial microbial colonization of the newborn is established by its earliest contact with the environment, especially during and after passage through the birth canalThese authors contributed : M.A
With a median sequencing depth of 43,132 reads in the vaginal samples, 48,764 reads in the fecal samples and 30,949 reads in the airway samples, we identified a total of 2327 unique Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs); 1548 OTUs in the vaginal samples, 1536 OTUs in the fecal samples, and 528 OTUs in the airway samples
Summary
The objective of the present study was to analyze the natural progression of the maternal vaginal microbial composition during the second half of pregnancy and birth, and its importance for the early neonatal microbial colonization, studying mother–child pairs from the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood2010 (COPSAC2010) pregnancy and birth cohort [8]
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