title: Potential association of vacuum cleaning frequency with an altered gut microbiota in pregnant women and their 2-year-old children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Westernized lifestyle and hygienic behavior have contributed to dramatic changes in the human-associated microbiota. This particularly relates to indoor activities such as house cleaning. We therefore investigated the associations between washing and vacuum cleaning frequency and the gut microbiota composition in a large longitudinal cohort of mothers and their children. The gut microbiota composition was determined using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene Illumina deep sequencing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that high vacuum cleaning frequency about twice or more a week was associated with an altered gut microbiota composition both during pregnancy and for 2-year-old children, while there were no associations with house washing frequency. In total, six Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) showed significant False Discovery Rate (FDR) corrected associations with vacuum cleaning frequency for mothers (two positive and four negative) and five for 2-year-old children (four positive and one negative). For mothers and the 2-year-old children, OTUs among the dominant microbiota (average >5 %) showed correlation to vacuum cleaning frequency, with an increase in Faecalibacterium prausnitzii for mothers (p = 0.013, FDR corrected), and Blautia sp. for 2-year children (p = 0.012, FDR corrected).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bacteria showing significant associations are among the dominant gut microbiota, which may indicate indirect immunomodulation of the gut microbiota possibly through increased allergen (dust mites) exposure as a potential mechanism. However, further exploration is needed to unveil mechanistic details.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food science department (IKBM), Campus Ås, Ås 1432, Ås, Norway. ekaterina.avershina@nmbu.no.
authors.forename: Ekaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Avershina
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food science department (IKBM), Campus Ås, Ås 1432, Ås, Norway. anuradha.ravi@nmbu.no.
authors.forename: Anuradha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ravi
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 9491, Trondheim, Norway. ola.storro@ntnu.no.
authors.forename: Ola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Storrø
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 9491, Trondheim, Norway. torbjorn.oien@ntnu.no.
authors.forename: Torbjørn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Øien
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 9491, Trondheim, Norway. roar.johnsen@ntnu.no.
authors.forename: Roar
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Johnsen
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food science department (IKBM), Campus Ås, Ås 1432, Ås, Norway. knut.rudi@nmbu.no.
authors.forename: Knut
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rudi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D039741:Antigens, Dermatophagoides / Q000276:immunology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006796:Household Work; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009035:Mothers; D010802:Phylogeny; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D039741:Antigens, Dermatophagoides; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S