Distinct gut microbiota in southeastern African and northern European infants.
OBJECTIVE
The intestinal microbiota composition in infants reflects the early environment. Our objective was to compare the gut microbiota in 6-month-old infants living in rural Malawi with children of the same age living in urban Finland, both being breast-fed and having an age-appropriate diet typical for each area.


METHODS
Malawian 6-month-old infants (n=44) were compared with Finnish infants (n=31) of the same age. In both cohorts, infant stool samples were available for microbiota characterization by flow cytometry-fluorescent in situ hybridization and quantitative polymerase chain reaction methods.


RESULTS
Bifidobacteria were dominant at 6 months of age in all of the infants, although in greater proportions in Malawian (70.8%) than in Finnish infants (46.8%; P<0.001). Additional distinctions in bacterial group composition comprised Bacteroides-Prevotella (17.2% vs 4.7%; P<0.001) and Clostridium histolyticum (4.4% vs 2.8%; P=0.01), respectively. The species Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Clostridium perfringens, and Staphylococcus aureus were absent in Malawian but detected in Finnish infants.


CONCLUSIONS
The gut microbiota of 6-month-old infants in a low-income country differs significantly from that in a high-income country. This may have an effect on both the energy harvest from the diet typifying malnutrition and diarrheal diseases in low-income countries and Western lifestyle diseases in high-income countries.
Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry, Functional Foods Forum, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. lukgrz@utu.fi
Łukasz
Ł
Grześkowiak
Maria Carmen
MC
Collado
Charles
C
Mangani
Kenneth
K
Maleta
Kirsi
K
Laitinen
Per
P
Ashorn
Erika
E
Isolauri
Seppo
S
Salminen
D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics; D001439:Bacteroides; D001644:Bifidobacterium; D003013:Clostridium; D003906:Developing Countries; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology*; D008295:Malawi; D008297:Male; D054892:Metagenome; D018720:Prevotella; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus