The placenta harbors a unique microbiome

Humans and their microbiomes have coevolved as a physiologic community composed of distinct body site niches with metabolic and antigenic diversity. The placental microbiome has not been robustly interrogated, despite recent demonstrations of intracellular bacteria with diverse metabolic and immune...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science translational medicine Vol. 6; no. 237; p. 237ra65
Main Authors: Aagaard, Kjersti, Ma, Jun, Antony, Kathleen M, Ganu, Radhika, Petrosino, Joseph, Versalovic, James
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 21.05.2014
Subjects:
Bacteria - classification
Bacteria - genetics
Bacteria - isolation & purification
Case-Control Studies
Chi-Square Distribution
Classification
DNA, Bacterial - genetics
Female
Humans
Metagenomics
Microbiota - genetics
Multivariate Analysis
Placenta - microbiology
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - microbiology
Pregnancy Trimester, First
Premature Birth - microbiology
Ribotyping
Risk Factors
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics
Urinary Tract Infections - microbiology
ISSN:1946-6242, 1946-6242
Online Access:Get more information
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Humans and their microbiomes have coevolved as a physiologic community composed of distinct body site niches with metabolic and antigenic diversity. The placental microbiome has not been robustly interrogated, despite recent demonstrations of intracellular bacteria with diverse metabolic and immune regulatory functions. A population-based cohort of placental specimens collected under sterile conditions from 320 subjects with extensive clinical data was established for comparative 16S ribosomal DNA-based and whole-genome shotgun (WGS) metagenomic studies. Identified taxa and their gene carriage patterns were compared to other human body site niches, including the oral, skin, airway (nasal), vaginal, and gut microbiomes from nonpregnant controls. We characterized a unique placental microbiome niche, composed of nonpathogenic commensal microbiota from the Firmicutes, Tenericutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Fusobacteria phyla. In aggregate, the placental microbiome profiles were most akin (Bray-Curtis dissimilarity <0.3) to the human oral microbiome. 16S-based operational taxonomic unit analyses revealed associations of the placental microbiome with a remote history of antenatal infection (permutational multivariate analysis of variance, P = 0.006), such as urinary tract infection in the first trimester, as well as with preterm birth <37 weeks (P = 0.001).
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:1946-6242
1946-6242
DOI:10.1126/scitranslmed.3008599