ArticleFrontiers in genetics2014
A holobiont birth narrative: the epigenetic transmission of the human microbiome.
Article in Frontiers in genetics, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed.
- Maternal-to-neonatal microbial transmission and impact of prenatal probiotics on neonatal gut development.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Trial
- Characteristics of Placental Bacterial DNA Communities in Pregnant Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Association with Early Neonatal Gut Microbiota and Short-Term Perinatal Outcomes.Polish journal of microbiology · 2026Article
- Lighting the way: how the squid-Vibrio model can inform thermal impacts on symbiotic dynamics.The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Review
- Insights into pig resilience: the Microbiome-genetic connection.Porcine health management · 2026Review
- Establishment of the early gut microbiota in vaginally delivered infants: the influence of maternal gut microbiota outweighs vaginal microbiota.Microbiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Culture-Independent Species-Level Taxonomic and Functional Characterisation of Bacteroides, the Core Bacterial Genus Within Reptile Guts.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Weaving birth: interdependence and the fungal turn.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- Evaluating Current Molecular Techniques and Evidence in Assessing Microbiome in Placenta-Related Health and Disorders in Pregnancy.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- Healthy microbiome - a mere idea or a sound concept?Physiological research · 2022Review
- Nocturnal Acidification: A Coordinating Cue in theInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- The Gut-Skin Microbiota Axis and Its Role in Diabetic Wound Healing-A Review Based on Current Literature.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- One or two? A Process View of pregnancy.Philosophical studies · 2022Article
- Ecology impacts the decrease of Spirochaetes and Prevotella in the fecal gut microbiota of urban humans.BMC microbiology · 2021Article
- Maternal microbial factors that affect the fetus and subsequent offspring.Seminars in perinatology · 2021Review
- Acquisition and establishment of the oral microbiota.Periodontology 2000 · 2021Review
- Envisioning emerging frontiers on human gut microbiota and its applications.Microbial biotechnology · 2021Article
- Review
- Article
- Environmental Politics of Reproduction.Annual review of anthropology · 2019Article
- Matrotrophic viviparity constrains microbiome acquisition during gestation in a live-bearing cockroach,Ecology and evolution · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This essay plans to explore, expand, and re-tell the human birth narrative. Usually, human birth narratives focus on the origins of a new individual, focusing on the mother and fetus. This essay discusses birth as the origin of a new community. For not only is the eukaryotic body being reproduced, but so also are the bodies of its symbiotic microbes and so is the set of relationships between these organic components. Several parts of the new narrative are surprising: (1) bacterial symbionts might cause some of the characteristics of pregnancy and prepare a symbiotic community for transfer; (2) the first bacterial colonizers of the mammalian organism my enter the fetus prior to the lysing of the amniotic membrane and birth; (3) the same signals that often cause immunological attack against a microbe may serve under these conditions to signal homeostatic stability between symbiont and host; and (4) the mother may actively provide substances that promote the growth and settlement of helpful bacteria. The birth of the holobiont exemplifies principles of co-evolution, co-development, niche construction, and scaffolding. Birth is nothing less than the passage from one set of symbiotic relationships to another.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.