Diet and circadian rhythms shape the developing infant gut microbiome

Researchers from the Chair of Nutrition and Immunology, ZIEL - Institute for Food and Health, and the Data Science in Systems Biology group at the Technical University of Munich (Germany) investigated how diet influences the development of the infant gut microbiome during the first year of life. While age was found to be the primary driver of microbiota assembly, formula composition influenced metabolite profiles and the development of bacterial circadian rhythms. Using the INFORS HT Multifors 2 bioreactor as an ex vivo gut chemostat model, the team confirmed that rhythmic behavior in dominant gut bacteria can be maintained under controlled laboratory conditions, providing new insights into the relationship between nutrition, microbiome development, and circadian biology.