ArticleBMC microbiology2013
Human milk metagenome: a functional capacity analysis.
Article in BMC microbiology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 110 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
110 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 214 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Breastmilk microbiota and its association with infant iron deficiency anaemia: A 16S rRNA metagenomic study in Peruvian mothers cohort.PloS one · 2026Article
- Article
- Assembly of the infant gut microbiome and resistome are linked to bacterial strains in mother's milk.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Microbiome Profiling of Pretreated Human Breast Milk Using Shotgun Metagenomic Sequencing.Journal of microbiology and biotechnology · 2025Article
- The Association Between Maternal Diet and the Human Milk Microbiome: A Review of Evidence and Methodological Challenges.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Exploring the Microbiome in Breast Cancer: The Role ofMicroorganisms · 2025Review
- Viable bacterial communities in freshly pumped human milk and their changes during cold storage conditions.International breastfeeding journal · 2025Observational
- Human Milk Microbiome from Polish Women Giving Birth via Vaginal Delivery-Pilot Study.Biology · 2025Article
- The human milk bacteriome and mycobiome and their inter-kingdom interactions viewed across geography.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Article
- Human Milk Microbiome-A Review of Scientific Reports.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Comparison of canine colostrum and milk using a multi-omics approach.Animal microbiome · 2024Article
- Fermented Mare Milk and Its Microorganisms for Human Consumption and Health.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Gestational age at birth influences protein and RNA content in human milk extracellular vesicles.Journal of extracellular biology · 2024Article
- Microbial Quality of Donkey Milk during Lactation Stages.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Unveiling the dynamics of the breast milk microbiome: impact of lactation stage and gestational age.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Article
- Longitudinal Changes in Milk Microorganisms in the First Two Months of Lactation of Primiparous and Multiparous Cows.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- A Review on Maternal and Infant Microbiota and Their Implications for the Prevention and Treatment of Allergic Diseases.Nutrients · 2023Review
- Shaping infant development from the inside out: Bioactive factors in human milk.Seminars in perinatology · 2023Review
50 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHuman milk contains a diverse population of bacteria that likely influences colonization of the infant gastrointestinal tract. Recent studies, however, have been limited to characterization of this microbial community by 16S rRNA analysis. In the present study, a metagenomic approach using Illumina sequencing of a pooled milk sample (ten donors) was employed to determine the genera of bacteria and the types of bacterial open reading frames in human milk that may influence bacterial establishment and stability in this primal food matrix. The human milk metagenome was also compared to that of breast-fed and formula-fed infants' feces (n = 5, each) and mothers' feces (n = 3) at the phylum level and at a functional level using open reading frame abundance. Additionally, immune-modulatory bacterial-DNA motifs were also searched for within human milk.
resultsThe bacterial community in human milk contained over 360 prokaryotic genera, with sequences aligning predominantly to the phyla of Proteobacteria (65%) and Firmicutes (34%), and the genera of Pseudomonas (61.1%), Staphylococcus (33.4%) and Streptococcus (0.5%). From assembled human milk-derived contigs, 30,128 open reading frames were annotated and assigned to functional categories. When compared to the metagenome of infants' and mothers' feces, the human milk metagenome was less diverse at the phylum level, and contained more open reading frames associated with nitrogen metabolism, membrane transport and stress response (P < 0.05). The human milk metagenome also contained a similar occurrence of immune-modulatory DNA motifs to that of infants' and mothers' fecal metagenomes.
conclusionsOur results further expand the complexity of the human milk metagenome and enforce the benefits of human milk ingestion on the microbial colonization of the infant gut and immunity. Discovery of immune-modulatory motifs in the metagenome of human milk indicates more exhaustive analyses of the functionality of the human milk metagenome are warranted.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.