Lessons from mother: Long-term impact of antibodies in breast milk on the gut microbiota and intestinal immune system of breastfed offspring

From birth to adulthood, the gutmicrobiota matures from a simple community dominated by a few major bacterial groups into a highly diverse eco-system that provides both benefits and challenges to the host. Currently there is great interest in identifying environmen-tal and host factors that shape the devel-opment of our gut microbiota. Breast milk is a rich source of maternal antibod-ies, which provide the first source of adaptive immunity in the newborn’s intestinal tract. In this addendum, we summarize our recent data demonstrat-ing that maternal antibodies in breast milk promote long-term intestinal homeostasis in suckling mice by regulat-ing the gut microbiota and host gene expression. We also discuss important unanswered questions, future directions for research in this field, and implications for human health and disease