2022 Fleming Prize Lecture: diet-microbe-host interaction in early life

The last decade has witnessed a meteoric rise in research focused on characterizing the human microbiome and identifying associations with disease risk. The advent of sequencing technology has all but eradicated gel -based fingerprinting approaches for studying microbial ecology, while at the same time traditional microbiological culture is undergoing a renaissance. Although multiplexed high-throughput sequencing is relatively new, the discoveries leading to this are nearly 50 years old, coinciding with the inaugural Microbiology Society Fleming Prize lecture. It was an honour to give the 2022 Fleming Prize lecture and this review will cover the topics from that lecture. The focus will be on the bacterial community in early life, beginning with term infants before moving on to infants delivered prematurely. The review will discuss recent work showing how human milk oligo-saccharides (HMOs), an abundant but non-nutritious component of breast milk, can modulate infant microbiome and promote the growth of Bifidobacterium spp. This has important connotations for preterm infants at risk of necrotizing enterocolitis, a devastating intestinal disease representing the leading cause of death and long -term morbidity in this population. With appro-priate mechanistic studies, it may be possible to harness the power of breast milk bioactive factors and infant gut microbiome to improve short-and long -term health in infants.

Automated summary

The past decade has seen a significant increase in research on the human microbiome and its correlation with disease risk. The use of sequencing technology has replaced gel-based fingerprinting methods for studying microbial ecology, while traditional microbiological culture is experiencing a revival. This review focuses on the bacterial community in early life, particularly in term infants and prematurely born infants, and highlights the impact of human milk oligo-saccharides (HMOs) on the infant microbiome and the growth of Bifidobacterium spp. These findings have important implications for preterm infants at risk of necrotizing enterocolitis, a leading cause of mortality and long-term morbidity in this population.