A study involving infants in Hong Kong found that DNA methylation patterns measured at birth were associated with how the gut microbiome developed during the first year of life, and that certain combinations were linked to autism- and ADHD-related behavioral signs at 36 months.
Researchers reported evidence of a connection between epigenetic programming at birth, the developing infant gut microbiome, and later neurodevelopmental traits. The team analyzed DNA methylation patterns in umbilical cord blood from 571 infants and combined those data with gut microbiome samples from 969 infants collected at 2, 6 and 12 months, along with microbiome samples from the infants’ parents during the third trimester of pregnancy. Neurodevelopment was assessed when the children reached 36 months using a behavioral questionnaire. The study found that signs associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at age three were linked to specific combinations of epigenetic markers and gut microbes. It also identified bacterial species that appeared to be associated with a reduced likelihood of these signs among children who had epigenetic patterns linked to higher risk: children with ASD-associated epigenetic patterns were less likely to show signs if they acquired Lachnospira pectinoschiza during infancy, while children with ADHD-associated epigenetic patterns appeared less likely to show signs if they acquired Parabacteroides distasonis during the first year. >
