ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
This article is part of the Research TopicNew and advanced mechanistic insights into the influences of the infant gut microbiota on human health and disease, Volume IIView all 10 articles
Integrated multi-omics reveals distinct maternal and neonatal gut microbial and metabolic signatures associated with small for gestational age status
Provisionally accepted
- 1Tianjin Institute of Environmental and Operational Medicine, Tianjin, China
- 2Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
- 3Obstetrical Department of Hangzhou Linping District Maternal &Child Health Care Hospital, Hangzhou, China
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Children born small for gestational age (SGA) have an elevated risk of developing metabolic disorders in later life. However, the underlying gut microbiota and metabolomic alterations in SGA mother-infant dyads remain poorly understood. We performed an integrated analysis of fecal metagenomics, metabolomics, and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) profiling in 10 SGA and 10 appropriate for gestational age (AGA) mother-infant dyads at term. Taxonomic composition, microbial functional pathways, carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZyme) profiles, differential metabolites, and metabolite pathway enrichment were systematically evaluated. SGA neonates exhibited reduced microbial richness (Chao1 index), distinct beta-diversity, and differential abundance of key bacterial species including increased Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli. Functionally, SGA maternal subjects showed divergent profiles in CAZyme genes, with lower abundance of glycoside hydrolase family 13 subfamily 16, glycosyl transferase family 66, and carbohydrate-binding module family 6, and altered structural polysaccharide degradation capacity. Metabolomic profiling revealed significant perturbations in tryptophan metabolism pathways, notably enriched in kynurenine and taurine derivatives in SGA mother and neonates. Notably, SCFA profiles were disrupted, with increased butyrate in SGA mother and reduced propionate and isobutyrate in SGA neonates. Microbe-metabolite correlation networks revealed strong associations between SGA-specific bacterial taxa and fecal metabolites. In conclusion, our analysis identifies distinct features of the early fecal microbiome and metabolome within 48 hours of birth in SGA neonates compared with AGA peers, reflecting differences in initial colonization and metabolism that warrant longitudinal follow‑up.
Keywords: Small for gestational age infants, Metagenome, Metabolome, tryptophanmetabolism, short-chain fatty acid
Received: 18 Jul 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bian, Xu, Li, Kuang, Shi, Li and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jinjun Li, lijinjun@zaas.ac.cn
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