The core phageome and its interrelationship with preterm human milk lipids

• Published in: Cell reports (Cambridge) Vol. 42; no. 11; p. 113373
• Main Authors: Yew, Wen C., Young, Gregory R., Nelson, Andrew, Cheung, William, Stewart, Christopher J., Bridge, Simon H., Granger, Claire, Berrington, Janet E., Embleton, Nicholas D., Smith, Darren L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 28-11-2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Bacteriophages; breastfeeding; CP: Neuroscience; Fatty Acids; Female; human milk; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature; Lactation; lipidomics; lipids; microbiome; Milk, Human; neonatal nutrition; preterm infants; Virome; virome; lipids; preterm infants; CP: Neuroscience; bacteriophages; human milk; neonatal nutrition; breastfeeding; microbiome; lipidomics
• ISSN: 2211-1247; 2211-1247
• DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113373

Phages and lipids in human milk (HM) may benefit preterm infant health by preventing gastrointestinal pathobiont overgrowth and microbiome modulation. Lipid association may promote vertical transmission of phages to the infant. Despite this, interrelationships between lipids and phages are poorly characterized in preterm HM. Shotgun metagenomics and untargeted lipidomics of phage and lipid profiles from 99 preterm HM samples reveals that phages are abundant and prevalent from the first week and throughout the first 100 days of lactation. Phage-host richness of preterm HM increases longitudinally. Core phage communities characterized by Staphylococcus- and Propionibacterium-infecting phages are significantly correlated with long-chain fatty acid abundances over lactational age. We report here a phage-lipid interaction in preterm HM, highlighting the potential importance of phage carriage in preterm HM. These results reveal possible strategies for phage carriage in HM and their importance in early-life microbiota development.
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•Preterm human milk harbors core bacteriophage communities from the first week of lactation•Preterm human milk bacteriophages mostly infect skin-commensal bacteria•Core viruses and lipids/fatty acids are interrelated in preterm human milk (in vivo)•Associations between fatty acid chain length and phage morphotype can be replicated in vitro
Yew et al. highlight that core viromes of preterm human milk develop over time and are dominated by bacteriophages infecting human skin commensals. Co-occurrence networks and in vitro association studies link phage morphotypes with fatty acid chain length. This highlights potential vehicles for vertical transmission of bacteriophages from mother to infant.