{Reference Type}: Journal Article
{Title}: Longitudinal comparison of the developing gut virome in infants and their mothers.
{Author}: Walters WA;Granados AC;Ley C;Federman S;Stryke D;Santos Y;Haggerty T;Sotomayor-Gonzalez A;Servellita V;Ley RE;Parsonnet J;Chiu CY;
{Journal}: Cell Host Microbe
{Volume}: 31
{Issue}: 2
{Year}: 02 2023 8
{Factor}: 31.316
{DOI}: 10.1016/j.chom.2023.01.003
{Abstract}: The human gut virome and its early life development are poorly understood. Prior studies have captured single-point assessments with the evolution of the infant virome remaining largely unexplored. We performed viral metagenomic sequencing on stool samples collected longitudinally from a cohort of 53 infants from age 2 weeks to 3 years (80.7 billion reads), and from their mothers (9.8 billion reads) to examine and compare viromes. The asymptomatic infant virome consisted of bacteriophages, nonhuman dietary/environmental viruses, and human-host viruses, predominantly picornaviruses. In contrast, human-host viruses were largely absent from the maternal virome. Previously undescribed, sequence-divergent vertebrate viruses were detected in the maternal but not infant virome. As infants aged, the phage component evolved to resemble the maternal virome, but by age 3, the human-host component remained dissimilar from the maternal virome. Thus, early life virome development is determined predominantly by dietary, infectious, and environmental factors rather than direct maternal acquisition.