Human Milk Variation is Shaped by Maternal Genetics and Impacts the Infant Gut Microbiome

Overview

Journal Cell Genom

Date 2024 Sep 12

PMID 39265573

Authors

Kelsey E Johnson

Timothy Heisel

Mattea Allert

Annalee Furst

Nikhila Yerabandi

Dan Knights

Katherine M Jacobs

Eric F Lock

Lars Bode

David A Fields

Michael C Rudolph

Cheryl A Gale

Frank W Albert

Ellen W Demerath

Ran Blekhman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Human milk is a complex mix of nutritional and bioactive components that provide complete nourishment for the infant. However, we lack a systematic knowledge of the factors shaping milk composition and how milk variation influences infant health. Here, we characterize relationships between maternal genetics, milk gene expression, milk composition, and the infant fecal microbiome in up to 310 exclusively breastfeeding mother-infant pairs. We identified 482 genetic loci associated with milk gene expression unique to the lactating mammary gland and link these loci to breast cancer risk and human milk oligosaccharide concentration. Integrative analyses uncovered connections between milk gene expression and infant gut microbiome, including an association between the expression of inflammation-related genes with milk interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentration and the abundance of Bifidobacterium and Escherichia in the infant gut. Our results show how an improved understanding of the genetics and genomics of human milk connects lactation biology with maternal and infant health.

Citing Articles

Maternal Milk Orchestrates the Development of Infant Gut Microbiota: Implications for Health and Future Research Directions.

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Research on Human milk feeding to drive impactful immune health and outcomes in vulnerable preterm infants should evaluate maternal confounders.

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Interactions of human milk oligosaccharides with the immune system.

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The Influence of Maternal Lifestyle Factors on Human Breast Milk Microbial Composition: A Narrative Review.

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Unlocking the genetic influence on milk variation and its potential implication for infant health.

Nussbaum C, Kim-Hellmuth S Cell Genom. 2024; 4(10):100676.

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