The research teams led by Professor
Yulong Yin from the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor
Mingzhu Yin from Chongqing University Three Gorges Hospital, and Professor
Zuohua Liu from Key Laboratory of Pig Industry Science, Ministry of Agriculture collaborated to publish a research paper titled
"Maternal microbiota shapes brain and neuroendocrine development in piglets
" in
iMeta (IF 44.4).
Background
The maternal microbiota is critical for early-life development, but how it shapes cellular and neuroendocrine programs in mammals remains poorly understood. Using germ-free and maternal microbiota transplantation (MMT) piglet models, this study built an integrated multi-organ atlas to map microbiota-driven developmental remodeling.
Highlights
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Large-scale atlas – Profiled 673,623 nuclei across five brain regions and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, integrated with spatial transcriptomics, intestinal RNA-seq, and metabolomics.
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Neuronal and glial remodeling – MMT reshaped neuronal maturation, altered immature neuronal states, reorganized neuron–glia networks, and showed trends toward increased plasma glutamic acid and glutamine.
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HPA-axis and stress programming – MMT remodeled HPA-axis cellular communication, stress-response and immune programs, with reduced circulating cortisol.
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Cross-species relevance – Human cognitive and neuropsychiatric trait-associated genetic signals were enriched in microbiota-responsive porcine cell populations.
Conclusion
Maternal microbiota exposure orchestrates brain–gut–neuroendocrine remodeling in early life, providing a translational framework for how microbial signals shape mammalian development.
Single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) for this research was conducted on the GeneMind SURFSeq 5000 platform. Learn more about the platform here: https://en.genemind.com/NGS-Sequencers/230.html
Access the full paper through the link: https://doi.org/10.1002/imt2.70182
