Gut Microbial Variation May Predict Neonatal Jaundice and Microbial Alterations After Treatment

Abstract Background: Neonatal jaundice is a common disease that affects up to 60% of newborns and the relationship between early gut microbiome and development of neonatal jaundice is not fully understood. This study aims to characterize gut microbiome of newborns and to explore its association with risk of neonatal jaundice.Methods: We collected 257 fecal samples from 58 infants at 5 time points of 0, 1, 3, 6 and 12 months prospectively, and finally 114 samples from 6 neonatal jaundice infants (NJI) with treatment and 19 matched non-NJI completed Miseq sequencing and analysis. We characterized gut microbiome, identified microbial differences and gene functions. Results: Meconium microbial diversity from NJI was decreased versus non-NJI. Genus Gemella was decreased in NJI versus non-NJI. Eleven predicted microbial functions including fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase III and Pyruvate carboxylase subunit B decreased, while 3 functions including acetyl CoA acyltransferase increased in NJI. After treatments, microbial community presented a significant alterations based beta-diversity. Phylum Firmicutes and Actinobacteria were increased, while Proteobacteria and Fusobacteria were decreased. Microbial alterations were also analyzed between 6 recovery NJI and 19 non-NJI. Conclusion: Gut microbiota was unique in meconium microbiome from NJI, implying early gut microbiome intervention could be promising for the management of neonatal jaundice. Alterations of gut microbiota from NJI can be of great value to bolster evidence-based prevention against ‘bacterial dysbiosis’.