This research published in Nature Microbiology found that one of these beneficial bacterial pioneers was genetically adapted to make full use of the nutrients in breast milk suggesting that it is the most suited to thrive in a baby's microbiome. The team uncovered that this bacterium can also block pathogens from colonizing the babies gut highlighting its significant potential as a natural probiotic.

The findings could support the development of infant formulas and therapeutic probiotics containing the most effective natural strains for the baby's gut. Currently most commercial infant probiotics contain a different bacterial strain not found in the early microbiomes of infants in industrialized societies like the UK and the US.

In addition to the two beneficial pioneer bacteria researchers highlighted a third bacterium that is considered risky as it can lead to the colonization of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This can interfere with the development of the infant microbiome and increase the risk of pathogens colonizing the gut.

In the future it could be possible to predict how a baby's gut will develop by mapping their gut microbiome profile right after birth to assess which pioneer bacteria they have. If needed a personalized probiotic could be provided to help promote healthy microbiome development and protect against potentially pathogenic infections.

The gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem of millions of microbes that are vital for human health and important in immune system development. As it begins to form immediately at birth the first month is the earliest window for intervention with probiotics that could be used to restore or boost the microbiome. However before this study there was a lack of high-resolution data showing how the microbiome develops in this period of life and which bacteria would be the most useful in healthy newborns.

Our study highlights a hugely beneficial pioneer bacterium that can fully digest breast milk and protect the newborn against harmful microbes. This has the potential to be a highly effective natural probiotic as it can already establish itself in the child's gut and I hope that our open-access study encourages the rational selection of probiotic strains and development of novel microbiome-based therapeutics built on genomic research.

Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-natural-probiotic-microbiomes-uk-newborns.html