Butyrate Producers in Very Low Birth Weight Infants with Neither Culture-Proven Sepsis nor Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Severe infection (sInfection; either late-onset culture-proven sepsis or necrotizing enterocolitis) in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants increases mortality rates and may show long-term progression. The fecal microbiome composition in VLBW infants with and without sInfection was classified in the sInfection and non-sInfection groups. Methods: Gut microbiomes, secondary information from a previous randomized trial, were analyzed using QIIME 2 software. The biodiversity and abundance of the gut microbiota between the sInfection and non-sInfection groups were compared. Results: Fifty-one neonates were included in the sInfection (n = 9) and non-sInfection (n = 42) groups; no significant differences in the fecal microbiome were observed in both alpha and beta diversities. Analysis of relative abundance revealed that in both groups, the predominant gut microbiota phylum, class, and genus were Proteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Klebsiella, respectively. The main fecal microbiome in the non-sInfection group included Faecalibacterium, Clostridium butyricum, and Bacteroides fragilis. Clostridium_sensu_stricto _1 was significantly more abundant in the non-sInfection group than in the sInfection group. Conclusions: Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 was the main gut microbiota in the non-sInfection group. Considering the potential taxa as synbiotics (correlations among prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics), therapeutics may be useful for preventing and managing necrotizing enterocolitis or late-onset culture-proven sepsis in VLBW infants.

Keywords: biodiversity; butyrate producers; gut microbiome; microbiota; necrotizing enterocolitis; neonatal sepsis; nutrigenomics; premature infant.

Figure 1

Relative abundance of isolated genera from fecal samples in each group of very low birth weight infants with and without severe infection (severe infection and no severe infection, respectively).

Figure 2

Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) indicating differentially abundant microbial clades; the red (no; non-severe infection) and green (yes; severe infection) bar charts represent the significantly abundant taxa in cases without and with severe infection, respectively.

Figure 3

Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) indicating differential abundance of microbial clades: Cladogram illustrates significantly abundant clades (red [no] and green [yes] circles represent the non-severe infection and severe infection groups, respectively). The dark yellow circles represent non-significant microbial clades between groups. The green bars [a–p] did not include the genus and species levels.