“To me it was a surprise to see how mums also acquired bacteria from other families through their kids” María Carmen Collado said.

Read the full paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

✨Super thanks to all our participants and #microTOUCH #ERC_Research!

#straintransmission #metagenomics

10/10

👏 Credit to @livi-ricci.bsky.social @vheidrich.bsky.social Michal Punčochář, Federica Armanini @matteo-ciciani.bsky.social @amirn.bsky.social Farnaz Fazaeli, Elisa Piperni, Charlotte Servais, Federica Pinto @mireiavallesc.bsky.social @fasnicar.bsky.social Nicola Segata

9/10

What's the take-home message?

Baby-to-baby transmission is a cornerstone of gut microbiome assembly, revealing that social interactions—not just family—drive microbial development in early life.

8/10

📌Among factors like birth practices, age, and diet, antibiotic treatment was the most strongly associated with variations in microbiome transmission. Infants recovered their microbial diversity through new strain acquisition more efficiently than adults.

7/10

📌 Key health-promoting bacteria, like B. longum infantis, spread preferentially between babies compared to other relation pairs.

6/10

Here are more key insights:

📌 Babies with older siblings start nursery with a more diverse microbiome and subsequently acquire fewer strains from their peers in the nursery pointing to siblings as crucial sources of infant microbiome enrichment.

5/10

Our strain-sharing pipeline enabled us to trace the passage of single microbiome members baby to baby and then to wider family networks via the nursery.

4/10

After just one year in nursery, peer-acquired microbial strains make up as large a proportion of babies' microbiomes as family-acquired strains.

This reveals that social interactions, not just genetics and home environment, are fundamental to how infant microbiomes develop.

3/10

We followed 134 participants over a year—babies, nursery educators, parents, siblings, and pets—using strain-resolved metagenomics to map how gut bacteria spread baby to baby and to wider family networks via the nursery.

2/10

Prettige feestdagen en een gelukkig nieuwjaar!

Felices fiestas y próspero Año Nuevo!!

مبارک ہو چھٹیاں اور نیا سال مبارک ہو!

Boas festas e um feliz ano novo!

নববর্ষ প্রীতি ও শুভেচ্ছা !

👏 SEMM PhD Graduation Day

#proudteam

👏 SEMM PhD Graduation Day

#proudteam