| In order to explore the impact of branched-chain fatty acids (BCFA) on the gut microbiota of newborns, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to measure the composition and content of BCFA in fetal stool from newborns of different gestational ages, and 16S rRNA sequencing was applied to analyze the composition of the neonatal gut microbiota. The correlation between BCFA in fetal stool and neonatal gut microbiota was explored. The results showed that 70 types of fatty acids were identified in the fetal stool samples, of which 31 were BCFA. The BCFA content in full-term infants was significantly higher than that in preterm infants (p<0.05). At the phylum level, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidota were the dominant phyla in the neonatal gut microbiota. At the genus level, the dominant genera in male and female infants were Lactobacillus and Pseudomonas, respectively. The BCFA content was significantly correlated with the abundance of Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, Actinobacteriota, Cyanobacteriota, and Spirochaetota in the neonatal gut, with the most significant correlation observed with Bacteroidota (p<0.01). In conclusion, the BCFA content in fetal stool is associated with the neonatal gut microbiota. |
