Secretor Status Is Strongly Associated with Microbial Alterations Observed during Pregnancy

During pregnancy there are significant changes in gut microbiota composition and activity. The impact of secretor status as determined by genotyping FUT2 (fucosyltransferase 2) gene was taken as one of the confounding factors associated with faecal microbiota changes during pregnancy. In this prospective study, we followed women during pregnancy (total = 123 of which secretors = 108, non-secretors = 15) and characterised their gut microbiota by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), Fluorescence In situ Hybridisation (FISH), Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) and pyrosequencing. qPCR revealed that C. coccoides group counts decreased significantly in non-secretors in comparison to secretors (p = 0.02). Similar tendency was found by FISH analysis in Clostridium histolyticum and Lactobacillus-Enterococcus groups between the secretor and the non-secretor pregnant women. DGGE analysis showed significant decrease in richness of Clostridium sp. between secretor and non-secretor mothers during pregnancy. Pyrosequencing based analysis at phyla level showed that there is greater increase in Actinobacteria in secretors in comparison to non-secretors, whereas Proteobacteria showed more increase in non-secretors. Change in relative abundance of Clostridiaceae family from first to third trimester were significantly associated with secretor status of pregnant women (p = 0.05). Polyphasic approach for microbiota analysis points out that the host secretor status (FUT2 genotype) affects the gut microbiota during pregnancy. This may lead to altered infant gut microbiota colonization.

[1]  Angela C. Poole,et al.  Human Genetics Shape the Gut Microbiome , 2014, Cell.

[2]  S. Salminen,et al.  Long-term monitoring of the human intestinal microbiota from the 2nd week to 13 years of age. , 2014, Anaerobe.

[3]  S. Tims,et al.  Faecal Microbiota Composition in Adults Is Associated with the FUT2 Gene Determining the Secretor Status , 2014, PloS one.

[4]  C. Chassard,et al.  Stability of the Maternal Gut Microbiota During Late Pregnancy and Early Lactation , 2014, Current Microbiology.

[5]  K. Aagaard,et al.  The Microbiome and Development: A Mother's Perspective , 2014, Seminars in Reproductive Medicine.

[6]  E. Ha,et al.  Mendelian Randomization Analysis of the Effect of Maternal Homocysteine During Pregnancy, as Represented by Maternal MTHFR C677T Genotype, on Birth Weight , 2013, Journal of epidemiology.

[7]  K. Kaukinen,et al.  Association study of FUT2 (rs601338) with celiac disease and inflammatory bowel disease in the Finnish population. , 2012, Tissue antigens.

[8]  L. T. Angenent,et al.  Host Remodeling of the Gut Microbiome and Metabolic Changes during Pregnancy , 2012, Cell.

[9]  Richard Hansen,et al.  IBD—what role do Proteobacteria play? , 2012, Nature Reviews Gastroenterology &Hepatology.

[10]  M. Freemark,et al.  Placental hormones and the control of maternal metabolism and fetal growth , 2011, Current opinion in endocrinology, diabetes, and obesity.

[11]  Philip Rosenstiel,et al.  Colonic mucosa-associated microbiota is influenced by an interaction of Crohn disease and FUT2 (Secretor) genotype , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[12]  J. Todd,et al.  FUT2 Nonsecretor Status Links Type 1 Diabetes Susceptibility and Resistance to Infection , 2011, Diabetes.

[13]  J. Nikkilä,et al.  Secretor Genotype (FUT2 gene) Is Strongly Associated with the Composition of Bifidobacteria in the Human Intestine , 2011, PloS one.

[14]  K. Honda,et al.  Induction of Colonic Regulatory T Cells by Indigenous Clostridium Species , 2011, Science.

[15]  A. Onderdonk,et al.  Endogenous bacterial flora in pregnant women and the influence of maternal genetic variation , 2011, BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology.

[16]  M. S. Jaff.  Higher frequency of secretor phenotype in O blood group – its benefits in prevention and/or treatment of some diseases , 2010, International journal of nanomedicine.

[17]  S. Salminen,et al.  Effect of mother's weight on infant's microbiota acquisition, composition, and activity during early infancy: a prospective follow-up study initiated in early pregnancy. , 2010, The American journal of clinical nutrition.

[18]  M. Nishimoto,et al.  Distribution of In Vitro Fermentation Ability of Lacto-N-Biose I, a Major Building Block of Human Milk Oligosaccharides, in Bifidobacterial Strains , 2009, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[19]  J. Gordon,et al.  Mucosal glycan foraging enhances fitness and transmission of a saccharolytic human gut bacterial symbiont. , 2008, Cell host & microbe.

[20]  S. Salminen,et al.  Distinct composition of gut microbiota during pregnancy in overweight and normal-weight women. , 2008, The American journal of clinical nutrition.

[21]  Anne Dell,et al.  A clostridial endo-beta-galactosidase that cleaves both blood group A and B glycotopes: the first member of a new glycoside hydrolase family, GH98. , 2005, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[22]  C. Balague,et al.  Association of the ‘Secretor State’ with the Presence and Recurrence of Urinary Infections in Pregnant Women , 1999, Annals of clinical biochemistry.

[23]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[24]  Peter Dalgaard,et al.  R Development Core Team (2010): R: A language and environment for statistical computing , 2010 .