Project description
Each year acute enteric infections kill around 500,000 children under the age of 5.
Moreover, early-life exposure to antibiotics is associated with chronic diseases such as asthma, allergies and obesity, which are on the rise in developed countries. Since disruption of the microbiota in the infant gut is at the center of these global diseases, there is an urgent need to understand how beneficial bacterial communities are established and maintained in infants.
This proposal is the first-ever attempt to utilize breast milk mucins in promoting gut bacteria in infants, with the aim of enforcing intestinal defenses against acute infections and chronic diseases.
What will this grant bring to the research project?
It is widely recognized that breast milk promotes beneficial bacteria in the infant gut, however there is a critical knowledge gap regarding the specific impact of breast milk mucins on bacteria and intestinal defenses.
By deep profiling of the infant gut microbiota, we expect to identify specific bacteria that are supported by breast milk mucins and to determine if milk mucins can promote commensal colonization resistance against enteric pathogens. Moreover, we aim to understand if breast milk mucins support specific bacterial species required for the function of intestinal barriers in infants.
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