Transmission modes of the mammalian gut microbiota

Transmission of the gut community Natural transmission of the mammalian microbiota is poorly understood. Some genera of bacteria are transmitted from mothers to offspring, whereas others are acquired from the wider environment. Moeller et al. derived inbred mouse lines from two wild populations of mice with distinct microbiota and monitored the populations' microbiomes for 3 years while they were kept in the same animal facility. The microbiota of the two mouse lineages remained distinct even after 10 generations. Most microbiota genera transmitted vertically. Those taxa that transmitted horizontally through the shared environment of the animal facility tended to be those that include pathogens. Science , this issue p. 453