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Comparative Study
. 2025 Aug;98(2):636-644.
doi: 10.1038/s41390-024-03675-6. Epub 2024 Nov 30.

Comparison of nasal microbiota between preterm and full-term infants in early life

Olga Gorlanova #  1   2 , Annika Nissen-Kratzert #  1   2 , Nadja Mostacci  3 , Céline Rüttimann  1   2 , Noemi Künstle  1   2 , Andrea Marten  1   2 , Amanda Gisler  1   2 , Katharina Bacher  3 , Fabienne Decrue  1   4 , Yasmin Salem  1   2 , Jakob Usemann  1   2 , Insa Korten  2 , Sophie Yammine  2 , Uri Nahum  1   5 , Sven Schulzke  1 , Philipp Latzin  1   2 , Martin Röösli  6 , Oliver Fuchs  2 ; BILD study consortium; Markus Hilty #  3 , Urs Frey #  7   8
Collaborators, Affiliations
Comparative Study

Comparison of nasal microbiota between preterm and full-term infants in early life

Olga Gorlanova et al. Pediatr Res. 2025 Aug.

Abstract

Background: The respiratory microbiota influences infant immune system maturation. Little is known about how perinatal, physiological, and environmental exposures impact the nasal microbiota in preterm infants after discharge, or nasal microbiota differences between preterm and healthy full-term infants.

Methods: Nasal swabs (from 136 preterm and 299 full-term infants at mean postmenstrual age of 45 weeks from the prospective Basel-Bern Infant Lung Development cohort) were analyzed by 16S-rRNA gene amplification and sequencing (Illumina MiSeq). Associations were tested with multivariable linear regression and principal coordinate analysis.

Results: Presence of older siblings in preterm infants was associated with β-diversity (PERMANOVA p = 0.001) and an increased abundance of Moraxella and Haemophilus. The nasal microbiota of preterm infants exhibited a distinct composition compared to that of full-term infants (PERMANOVA, R2 = 0.014, p = 0.001), characterized by a reduced abundance of the Moraxella and Dolosigranulum genera (ANCOM-BC, p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Our results indicate that, despite both infant groups having similar nasal microbiota patterns, there are some disparities which suggest that prematurity influences the initial microbiota colonization. In preterm infants the presence of older siblings had an effect on the nasal microbiota, whereas perinatal and early postnatal factors did not show significant effects.

Impact: Presence of older siblings affected the nasal microbiota of preterm infants. This study demonstrated that microbiota composition differs between full-term and preterm infants, with a lower abundance of Moraxella and Dolosigranulum in preterm infants. Examining the differences in nasal microbiota between preterm and full-term infants may contribute to understanding the trajectory of the bacterial component of the nasal microbiota of preterm infants.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: C.R. reports a relationship with Freie Akademische Gesellschaft Basel that includes: funding grants. P.L. reports a relationship with Vertex that includes: board membership, funding grants, and speaking and lecture fees. P.L. reports a relationship with Vifor Pharma Switzerland SA that includes: speaking and lecture fees. P.L. reports a relationship with OM Pharma Ltd that includes: board membership, funding grants, and speaking and lecture fees. P.L. reports a relationship with Polyphor Ltd that includes: board membership. P.L. reports a relationship with Santhera Pharmaceuticals Schweiz AG that includes: board membership. P.L. reports a relationship with Allecra Therapeutics that includes: board membership. P.L. reports a relationship with Sanofi that includes: board membership. All other authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Informed consent: A signed informed consent from the parents was obtained. The Ethics Committee of Northwest and Central Switzerland (EKNZ, Basel, Switzerland) and the Bernese Cantonal Ethics Research Committee (KEK, Bern, Switzerland) approved the study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Association between the presence of older siblings and nasal microbiota in preterm infants.
a Shannon and Simpson diversity in nasal samples of preterm infants with and without older siblings. b Principal coordinate analysis (PcoA) of nasal samples (PERMANOVA p = 0.013, with adjustment for postnatal antibiotic use, sex, use of antibiotics in the 3 months prior to birth, mode of delivery, probiotics, season of swab collection, and any breastfeeding at swab collection). Differentially enriched genera (c) and ASVs (d) between infants without older siblings (green) and those with older siblings (orange). Taxa that feature in less than 10% of all samples were removed from analysis. Points show the log fold change as given by ANCOM-BC, error bars denote the standard error. The analysis was adjusted for postnatal antibiotic use, sex, postnatal age, use of antibiotics in the 3 months prior to birth, mode of delivery, probiotics, season of swab collection, and any breastfeeding at swab collection. ASVs (d) reaching the nominal significance are shown. Asterisks indicate significant p-values following Benjamini–Hochberg adjustment for multiple testing.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Nasal microbiota in preterm and full-term infants.
a Shannon and Simpson α-diversity in nasal samples of preterm and full-term infants. b Principal coordinate analysis (PcoA) of nasal samples of preterm and full-term infants (PERMANOVA p = 0.001, with adjustment for presence of older siblings, sex, use of antibiotics in the 3 months prior to birth, postnatal antibiotic use, probiotics, mode of delivery, season of swab collection, any breastfeeding at swab collection, and study center). Bar plots show average relative abundances of phyla (c) and genera (d) level in preterm and full-term infants. Low abundant genera with a mean below 0.01 were grouped into the “other” category. The low abundant phylum Bacteroidota was not included due to its mean abundance being less than 0.01. (e) Heatmap summarizing the relative abundance at genus level and sorted by full-term birth and presence of older siblings.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Differentially abundant genera and ASVs in nasal samples of preterm and full-term infants. Differential abundance testing was done using ANCOM-BC accounting for postnatal age, presence of older siblings, season, use of antibiotics in the 3 months prior to birth, postnatal antibiotic use, breastfeeding at swab collection, and study center. Taxa that feature in less than 10% of all samples were removed from analysis. Points show the log fold change as given by ANCOM-BC, error bars denote the standard error at the genus (a) and ASV (b) level of taxa in preterm and full-term infants. Asterisks indicate significant p-values following Benjamini–Hochberg adjustment for multiple testing.
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