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Comparative analysis of fecal microflora of healthy full-term Indian infants born with different methods of delivery (vaginal vs cesarean): Acinetobacter sp. prevalence in vaginally born infants

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Abstract

In this study fecal microflora of human infants born through vaginal delivery (VB) and through cesarean section (CB) were investigated using culture-independent 16S rDNA cloning and sequencing approach. The results obtained clearly revealed that fecal microbiota of VB infants distinctly differ from those in their counterpart CB infants. The intestinal microbiota of infants delivered by cesarean section appears to be more diverse, in terms of bacteria species, than the microbiota of vaginally delivered infants. The most abundant bacterial species present in VB infants were Acinetobacter sp., Bifidobacterium sp. and Staphylococcus sp. However, CB infant’s fecal microbiota was dominated with Citrobacter sp., Escherichia coli and Clostridium difficile. The intestinal microbiota of cesarean section delivered infants in this study was also characterized by an absence of Bifidobacteria species. An interesting finding of our study was recovery of large number of Acinetobacter sp. consisting of Acinetobacter pittii (former Acinetobacter genomic species 3), Acinetobacter junii and Acinetobacter baumannii in the VB infants clone library. Among these, Acinetobacter baumannii is a known nosocomial pathogen and Acinetobacter pittii (genomic species 3) is recently recognized as clinically important taxa within the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus–Acinetobacter baumannii (ACB) complex. Although none of the infants had shown any sign of clinical symptoms of disease, this observation warrants a closer look.

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Abbreviations

CB:

Cesarean section born breastfed

VB:

vaginally born breastfed

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Ashish Bawdekar and the staff of his hospital for their cooperation in this study.We also thanks all the families who provided the fecal samples for this study. The study was supported by Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Insect Molecular Biology Unit, National Centre for Cell Science, Pune, 411 007, India

    Prashant Kumar Pandey, Pankaj Verma, Himanshu Kumar, Milind S Patole & Yogesh S Shouche

  2. Department of Paeditrics, KEM Hospital, Pune, 411 011, India

    Ashish Bavdekar

Authors
  1. Prashant Kumar Pandey
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  2. Pankaj Verma
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  3. Himanshu Kumar
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  4. Ashish Bavdekar
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  5. Milind S Patole
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  6. Yogesh S Shouche
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yogesh S Shouche.

Additional information

MS received 23 March 2012; accepted 27 August 2012

Corresponding editor: Anand Kumar Bachhawat

[Pandey PK, Verma P, Kumar H, Bavdekar A, Patole MS and Shouche YS 2012 Comparative analysis of fecal microflora of healthy full-term Indian infants born with different methods of delivery (vaginal vs cesarean): Acinetobacter sp. prevalence in vaginally born infants. J. Biosci. 37 1–10] DOI 10.1007/s12038-012-9268-5

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Pandey, P.K., Verma, P., Kumar, H. et al. Comparative analysis of fecal microflora of healthy full-term Indian infants born with different methods of delivery (vaginal vs cesarean): Acinetobacter sp. prevalence in vaginally born infants. J Biosci 37 (Suppl 1), 989–998 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-012-9268-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-012-9268-5

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