Research analysis of intestinal biodiversity in retrospective samples from newborns previously exposed to intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis by means of a massive sequencing approach

Next-Generation DNA sequencing data from the human intestinal microbiome provides new mechanism to explore the correlation between changes in microbiome composition and the host physiological status. Previous studies show that newborns have a highly unstable microbiome composition, but little information are available in literature on the potential effect due to intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) administrated to the mothers positive for the infection by group B Streptococcus, which affects around 10% of pregnant woman. According to this, the aim of the research project is to evaluate the main effects of the mentioned IAP on microbiome composition using the retrospective samples of newborns at seven days after birth, by massive parallel sequencing of seven different regions of 16S gene. The analysis was performed with Ion PGM platform, taking advantage from “Ion 16S Metagenomics Sequencing Technology Acces Program” (Life Technologies), which provides us both an Ion Torrent Metagenomics 16S kit (for research use only, not for use in diagnostic procedures) and the support of the Ion ReporterTM Software specific for 16S results’ analysis. Our first results show an evident difference in the microbial composition of treated newborns, resulting in a general decrease of microbial biodiversity and an overrepresentation of Proteobacteria, suggesting that these infants are potentially more exposed to gastrointestinal disease.