Comparative Analysis Of Fecal Microbiota Of Full-term Infants Born With Different Methods Of Delivery

Objective To analyze the fecal microbiota of full-term infants born with differentmethods of delivery.Methods The study included21infants, six of the infants were born vaginally and15by caesarean section(CS). Fecal samples were collected at0(meconium),1,2weeks and1,2,3,6,12months after birth and were stored at-80oC. The DNA ofstool samples were extracted and amplification were performed targeting thevariable regions4of the16S rRNA gene. The fecal microbiota were characterisedusing pyrosequencing of16S rRNA genes on the Illumina Miseq PE300platform.Results Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the main bacteria groups detected inmeconium. Infants born by caesarean section had lower total microbiota diversityduring the first year of life. The microbiota composition differs between infantsborn by caesarean section (CS) or vaginal delivery. CS delivered infants had alower abundance of the Ruminococcus and akkermansia genus. Vaginal deliveredinfants had a lower abundance of the Marinobacter and Enterococcus genus. Metastatsanalysis showed that there were statistical differences of the facal microbiota betweenthe infants born with different methods of delivery. Clustering analysis was performedby using UPGMA software, it shows that the different samples of an individualcan be clustered within one group.Conclusions Our results confirm that the fecal microbiota composition differsbetween infants born by caesarean section or vaginal delivery. CS was associatedwith a lower total microbial diversity.