Changes in the gut microbiota of Nigerian infants within the first year of lifeOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
This study examined how the gut microbiota of Nigerian infants develops over the first year of life, a population underrepresented in existing microbiome research. Researchers characterized bacterial composition using 16S rRNA gene sequencing (V1-V2 region) and measured short chain fatty acids and lactate in faecal samples using gas chromatography. The goal was to track how delivery mode, feeding practices, and weaning shape the developing infant gut microbiota over time.
Who was studied?
The cohort consisted of 28 Nigerian infants followed monthly from birth through one year of age, with faecal samples collected at each timepoint. Infants were born by a mix of natural (vaginal) birth and caesarean section, and were either exclusively breast-fed or mixed fed. This represents one of the relatively few longitudinal microbiome datasets from a non-Western infant population.
What were the most important findings?
Microbial differences between vaginally delivered and caesarean-delivered infants were evident only in samples collected within the first 7 days of life, and these differences disappeared in later samples. Exclusively breast-fed infants showed predominance of Ruminococcus gnavus, Collinsella, and Sutterella species, and different Bifidobacterium species dominated in breast-fed compared to mixed-fed infants. Once infants began weaning, Clostridium, Enterococcus, Roseburia, and Coprococcus species emerged, and butyrate was first detected around this transition.
What are the greatest implications of this study?
The findings suggest that delivery mode has only a short-lived influence on the early infant gut microbiota, while feeding practices exert a more sustained effect on which bacterial taxa, including specific Bifidobacterium species, come to dominate. The emergence of butyrate-producing genera at weaning highlights diet transition as a key driver of functional microbiota maturation. These results extend infant microbiome knowledge beyond Western cohorts and can inform feeding and care guidance in similarly underrepresented populations.