The early life microbiota mediates maternal effects on offspring growth in a nonhuman primate

Lauren Petrullo; Alice Baniel; Matthew J Jorgensen; Sierra Sams; Noah Snyder-Mackler; Amy Lu

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.103948

The early life microbiota mediates maternal effects on offspring growth in a nonhuman primate

iScience. 2022 Feb 18;25(3):103948. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103948. eCollection 2022 Mar 18.

Authors

Lauren Petrullo¹, Alice Baniel^{2

3}, Matthew J Jorgensen⁴, Sierra Sams^{5

6}, Noah Snyder-Mackler^{2

3

6

7}, Amy Lu⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
² Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.
³ School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.
⁴ Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
⁵ Paragon Genomics, Hayward, CA 94545, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
⁷ Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
⁸ Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.

Abstract

Maternal parity can impact offspring growth, but the mechanisms driving this effect are unclear. Here, we test the hypothesis that vertically transmitted microbiota may be one potential mechanism. We analyzed 118 fecal and milk samples from mother-offspring vervet monkey dyads across the first 6 months of life. Despite poorer milk production, offspring born to low parity females grew larger than their counterparts. These offspring exhibited reduced alpha diversity in the first days of life, stronger seeding of maternal milk microbiota, Bacteroides fragilis dominance, and a greater abundance of glycan utilization pathways. Moreover, the attainment of greater body mass by 6 months of age was mediated by reduced early life alpha diversity and B. fragilis dominance. This work demonstrates that the establishment of a specialized, milk-oriented gut microbiota promotes infant growth and suggests an evolutionarily conserved developmental role of B. fragilis in primates.

Keywords: Microbiology; Microbiome.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.14561925

Abstract

Associated data

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