title: Novel developmental analyses identify longitudinal patterns of early gut microbiota that affect infant growth.
abstract: It is acknowledged that some obesity trajectories are set early in life, and that rapid weight gain in infancy is a risk factor for later development of obesity. Identifying modifiable factors associated with early rapid weight gain is a prerequisite for curtailing the growing worldwide obesity epidemic. Recently, much attention has been given to findings indicating that gut microbiota may play a role in obesity development. We aim at identifying how the development of early gut microbiota is associated with expected infant growth. We developed a novel procedure that allows for the identification of longitudinal gut microbiota patterns (corresponding to the gut ecosystem developing), which are associated with an outcome of interest, while appropriately controlling for the false discovery rate. Our method identified developmental pathways of Staphylococcus species and Escherichia coli that were associated with expected growth, and traditional methods indicated that the detection of Bacteroides species at day 30 was associated with growth. Our method should have wide future applicability for studying gut microbiota, and is particularly important for translational considerations, as it is critical to understand the timing of microbiome transitions prior to attempting to manipulate gut microbiota in early life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genes and Environment, Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Jørgen V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Bjørnholt
authors.forename: Donna D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Baird
authors.forename: Tore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Midtvedt
authors.forename: Jennifer R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pagano
authors.forename: Winston
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hide
authors.forename: Knut
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rudi
authors.forename: Birgitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moen
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iszatt
authors.forename: Shyamal D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Peddada
authors.forename: Merete
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eggesbø
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D019295:Computational Biology; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology*