(P20-054-23) A Pilot Study To Determine the Development of Gut Microbiota of Hong Kong Infants During the First Year of Life

Objectives: Gut microbiota has been shown to link with human health. The dysbiosis of gut microbiota will increase the risk of diseases. The first colonization of microorganism in gut occurs at birth and gradually matures and develops until 3 years old. It is worth investigating the early development of gut microbial communities during the first year of life. Metagenomics has been applied to analyse the infant fecal samples in the United State and some European countries, however, similar studies were limited in Asia and especially Hong Kong.

Methods: Faecal samples were collected from the infants at their 2, 4, 6, 8 ,10 and 12 months of age, Genomic DNA from the fecal samples was extracted and subjected to 16S rRNA next-generation sequencing to understand the gut microbiota profile, the difference of microbiota diversity and community abundance across the 1^st year of lie. The sequencing results were processed using pipelines Mothur and Qiime2.

Results: The 3 predominant Phyla were Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes within the fecal samples across the first year of life. Higher abundance of the well-known immune-modulating Genera Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus were found in the fecal samples of exclusively breastfed infants at 2^nd and 4^th months however this observation disappeared from the 6th month onwards when weaning started. Regarding the alpha diversity, an increase with increasing age of the infants was observed.

Conclusions: Our results suggested that feeding pattern affect the probiotic genera Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus in Hong Kong infants at 2 and 4 months of the age. The colonization of microorganisms in gut and maturation of gut microbiota was observed across age with an increased in the alpha diversity when compared with early life. However, the effect of feeding pattern became less variable when compared to that of at 2 and 4 months of the age, the earlier life stages of the infants.

Funding Sources: Health and Medical Research Fund Ref no. 15161391, Food and Health Bureau, Hong Kong Government