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Title: Gut bacteria that prevent growth impairments transmitted by microbiota from malnourished children

Author
item BLANTON, LAURA - Washington University School Of Medicine
item CHARBONNEAU, MARK - Washington University School Of Medicine
item SALIH, TAREK - Washington University School Of Medicine
item BARRATT, MICHAEL - Washington University School Of Medicine
item VENKATESH, SIDDARTH - Washington University School Of Medicine
item ILKAVEYA, OLGA - Duke University Medical Center
item SUBRAMANIAN, SATHISH - Washington University School Of Medicine
item MANARY, MARK - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item TREHAN, INDI - Washington University School Of Medicine
item JORGENSEN, JOSH - University Of California, Davis
item FAN, YUE-MEI - University Of Tampere Medical School
item HENRISSAT, BERNARD - King Abdulaziz University
item LEYN, SEMEN - Russian Academy Of Sciences
item RODIONOV, DMITRY - Russian Academy Of Sciences
item OSTERMAN, ANDREI - Sanford And Burnham Medical Research Institute
item MALETA, KENNETH - University Of Malawi
item NEWGARD, CHRISTOPHER - Duke University Medical Center
item ASHORN, PER - University Of Tampere Medical School
item DEWEY, KATHRYN - University Of California, Davis
item GORDON, JEFFREY - Washington University School Of Medicine

Submitted to: Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/23/2015
Publication Date: 2/19/2016
Citation: Blanton, L.V., Charbonneau, M.R., Salih, T., Barratt, M.J., Venkatesh, S., Ilkaveya, O., Subramanian, S., Manary, M.J., Trehan, I., Jorgensen, J.M., Fan, Y., Henrissat, B., Leyn, S.A., Rodionov, D.A., Osterman, A.L., Maleta, K.M., Newgard, C.B., Ashorn, P., Dewey, K.G., Gordon, J.I. 2016. Gut bacteria that prevent growth impairments transmitted by microbiota from malnourished children. Science. 351(6275):aad3311. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad3311.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad3311

Interpretive Summary: Gut microbes in undernourished children are weak and underdeveloped. Transplanting microbes from undernourished Malawian children into young mice fed the same Malawian diet decreased their growth. These results provide evidence that poor microbe health is related to undernutrition and must be further explored.

Technical Abstract: Undernourished children exhibit impaired development of their gut microbiota. Transplanting microbiota from 6- and 18-month-old healthy or undernourished Malawian donors into young germ-free mice that were fed a Malawian diet revealed that immature microbiota from undernourished infants and children transmit impaired growth phenotypes. The representation of several age-discriminatory taxa in recipient animals correlated with lean body mass gain; liver, muscle, and brain metabolism; and bone morphology. Mice were cohoused shortly after receiving microbiota from healthy or severely stunted and underweight infants; age- and growth-discriminatory taxa from the microbiota of the former were able to invade that of the latter, which prevented growth impairments in recipient animals. Adding two invasive species, Ruminococcus gnavus and Clostridium symbiosum, to the microbiota from undernourished donors also ameliorated growth and metabolic abnormalities in recipient animals. These results provide evidence that microbiota immaturity is causally related to undernutrition and reveal potential therapeutic targets and agents.