The influence of early life exposures on the infant gut virome

The factors influencing the establishment of the gut bacterial community in early life are fairly well studied. However, the factors shaping the infant gut virome remain elusive. Interestingly, early life gut virome imbalances have recently been linked with increased risk of developing diseases like...

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Main Authors: Yichang Zhang, Josué L. Castro-Mejía, Ling Deng, Shiraz A. Shah, Jonathan Thorsen, Cristina Leal Rodríguez, Leon E. Jessen, Moïra B. Dion, Bo Chawes, Klaus Bønnelykke, Søren J. Sørensen, Hans Bisgaard, Sylvain Moineau, Marie-Agnès Petit, Jakob Stokholm, Dennis S. Nielsen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:Gut Microbes
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19490976.2025.2501194
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author Yichang Zhang
Josué L. Castro-Mejía
Ling Deng
Shiraz A. Shah
Jonathan Thorsen
Cristina Leal Rodríguez
Leon E. Jessen
Moïra B. Dion
Bo Chawes
Klaus Bønnelykke
Søren J. Sørensen
Hans Bisgaard
Sylvain Moineau
Marie-Agnès Petit
Jakob Stokholm
Dennis S. Nielsen
author_facet Yichang Zhang
Josué L. Castro-Mejía
Ling Deng
Shiraz A. Shah
Jonathan Thorsen
Cristina Leal Rodríguez
Leon E. Jessen
Moïra B. Dion
Bo Chawes
Klaus Bønnelykke
Søren J. Sørensen
Hans Bisgaard
Sylvain Moineau
Marie-Agnès Petit
Jakob Stokholm
Dennis S. Nielsen
author_sort Yichang Zhang
collection DOAJ
description The factors influencing the establishment of the gut bacterial community in early life are fairly well studied. However, the factors shaping the infant gut virome remain elusive. Interestingly, early life gut virome imbalances have recently been linked with increased risk of developing diseases like type 1 diabetes and asthma. We utilized the deeply phenotyped COPSAC2010 cohort to investigate how environmental factors influence the gut virome at one year age. We demonstrate that the presence of older siblings as well as residential location (urban or rural) had the strongest impact on gut virome composition at 1 year of age. A total of 16,118 species-level clustered viral representative contigs (here termed viral Operational Taxonomic Units – vOTUs) were identified and of these 2105 vOTUs varied in abundance with environmental exposures. Of these vOTUs 94.1% were phages mainly predicted to infect Bacteroidaceae, Prevotellaceae, and Ruminococcaceae. Strong co-abundance of phages and their bacterial hosts was confirmed underlining the predicted phage-host connections. Furthermore, we found some gut viruses affected by environmental factors encode enzymes involved in the utilization and degradation of major dietary components, potentially affecting infant health by influencing the bacterial host metabolic capacity. These findings provide a valuable insights for understanding the early life factors that predispose to autoimmune and metabolic disorders.
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spelling doaj-art-54f088864f1e4fe1a63f0cb7e1274c132025-08-20T03:08:16ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGut Microbes1949-09761949-09842025-12-0117110.1080/19490976.2025.2501194The influence of early life exposures on the infant gut viromeYichang Zhang0Josué L. Castro-Mejía1Ling Deng2Shiraz A. Shah3Jonathan Thorsen4Cristina Leal Rodríguez5Leon E. Jessen6Moïra B. Dion7Bo Chawes8Klaus Bønnelykke9Søren J. Sørensen10Hans Bisgaard11Sylvain Moineau12Marie-Agnès Petit13Jakob Stokholm14Dennis S. Nielsen15Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkDepartment of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkDepartment of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkCopenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev-Gentofte, Gentofte, DenmarkCopenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev-Gentofte, Gentofte, DenmarkCopenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev-Gentofte, Gentofte, DenmarkCopenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev-Gentofte, Gentofte, DenmarkDépartement de Biochimie, de Microbiologie, et de Bio-Informatique, Faculté des Sciences et de Génie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, CanadaCopenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev-Gentofte, Gentofte, DenmarkCopenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev-Gentofte, Gentofte, DenmarkDepartment of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkCopenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev-Gentofte, Gentofte, DenmarkDépartement de Biochimie, de Microbiologie, et de Bio-Informatique, Faculté des Sciences et de Génie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, CanadaUniversité Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParis Tech, Micalis Institute, Jouy-en-Josas, FranceDepartment of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkDepartment of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkThe factors influencing the establishment of the gut bacterial community in early life are fairly well studied. However, the factors shaping the infant gut virome remain elusive. Interestingly, early life gut virome imbalances have recently been linked with increased risk of developing diseases like type 1 diabetes and asthma. We utilized the deeply phenotyped COPSAC2010 cohort to investigate how environmental factors influence the gut virome at one year age. We demonstrate that the presence of older siblings as well as residential location (urban or rural) had the strongest impact on gut virome composition at 1 year of age. A total of 16,118 species-level clustered viral representative contigs (here termed viral Operational Taxonomic Units – vOTUs) were identified and of these 2105 vOTUs varied in abundance with environmental exposures. Of these vOTUs 94.1% were phages mainly predicted to infect Bacteroidaceae, Prevotellaceae, and Ruminococcaceae. Strong co-abundance of phages and their bacterial hosts was confirmed underlining the predicted phage-host connections. Furthermore, we found some gut viruses affected by environmental factors encode enzymes involved in the utilization and degradation of major dietary components, potentially affecting infant health by influencing the bacterial host metabolic capacity. These findings provide a valuable insights for understanding the early life factors that predispose to autoimmune and metabolic disorders.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19490976.2025.2501194Environmental exposuresinfantgut microbiotavirusphagebacterial host
spellingShingle Yichang Zhang
Josué L. Castro-Mejía
Ling Deng
Shiraz A. Shah
Jonathan Thorsen
Cristina Leal Rodríguez
Leon E. Jessen
Moïra B. Dion
Bo Chawes
Klaus Bønnelykke
Søren J. Sørensen
Hans Bisgaard
Sylvain Moineau
Marie-Agnès Petit
Jakob Stokholm
Dennis S. Nielsen
The influence of early life exposures on the infant gut virome
Gut Microbes
Environmental exposures
infant
gut microbiota
virus
phage
bacterial host
title The influence of early life exposures on the infant gut virome
title_full The influence of early life exposures on the infant gut virome
title_fullStr The influence of early life exposures on the infant gut virome
title_full_unstemmed The influence of early life exposures on the infant gut virome
title_short The influence of early life exposures on the infant gut virome
title_sort influence of early life exposures on the infant gut virome
topic Environmental exposures
infant
gut microbiota
virus
phage
bacterial host
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19490976.2025.2501194
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