Skip to main content
Log in

Beyond bacteria: early-life gut virome link with childhood asthma development

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

From Nature Medicine

View current issue Submit your manuscript

We deeply characterized the early-life gut virome, which consists mainly of bacteriophages (phages) and the diversity of which greatly exceeds bacterial diversity. The virome was associated with later asthma development, independently of the bacterial hosts of the phages; we further uncovered intriguing interactions with immune genetics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: The early-life gut virome and later asthma development.

References

  1. Stokholm, J. et al. Maturation of the gut microbiome and risk of asthma in childhood. Nat. Commun. 9, 141 (2018). This paper presents the link between the early life gut microbiome and childhood asthma development.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Gogokhia, L. et al. Expansion of bacteriophages is linked to aggravated intestinal inflammation and colitis. Cell Host Microbe 25, 285–299.e8 (2019). This research article reports how bacteriophages may stimulate immune responses via TLR9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Shah, S. A. et al. Expanding known viral diversity in the healthy infant gut. Nat. Microbiol. 8, 986–998 (2023). This paper describes the viral diversity of infants in the COPSAC2010 cohort.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Leal Rodríguez, C. et al. The infant gut virome is associated with preschool asthma risk independently of bacteria. Nat. Med. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02685-x (2023).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Beyond bacteria: early-life gut virome link with childhood asthma development. Nat Med 30, 43–44 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02747-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02747-0

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

Navigation