Monday 19 February, 1.00pm • Biochemistry Seminar Room BIG13
Prof Søren J. Sørensen
University of Copenhagen
Plasmid dynamics and maturation of the infant gut microbiome
Prof Sørensen will present findings from three studies focused on the early-life gut microbiome. The first study establishes a link between the microbiome's maturity in the first year of life and an increased risk of asthma by age five, particularly in offspring of asthmatic mothers. It suggests that early microbial development may influence inherited asthma risks. The second study explores antimicrobial resistance within the infant gut microbiome, examining antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) acquisition and the environmental factors influencing ARG diversity. This research demonstrates the effect of the microbiome's composition on ARG richness and highlights the diminishing impact of antibiotics over time. The third study investigates the ecology of plasmids in the infant gut microbiome through the analysis of mother-child cohorts. It uncovers a significant diversity of plasmid sequences and their role in expanding bacterial gene repertoires as the microbiome matures, with implications for bacterial function and health outcomes.
Overall, these studies contribute to our understanding of the gut microbiome's development in early life, its implications for health risks like asthma, and the dynamics of AMR and plasmid diversity.
