During and after child birth, bacteria from the mother’s gut take up residence in the baby’s body, seeding a unique community of beneficial bacteria that will help break down food, synthesize vitamins, and help teach the baby’s nascent immune system to recognize foreign organisms.
A mother’s microbial gifts go even further than that, according to a new study from scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. They explored how the microbiomes of the mother and baby change during pregnancy and the first year of life, and discovered that some bacteria in the mother’s gut donate hundreds of genes to bacteria in the baby’s gut. These genes are involved in the development of the immune and cognitive systems and help the baby to digest a changing diet as it grows.
