Researchers analyzing data from 100 pregnant women found that ecological destabilization of the maternal gut virome prior to preterm birth correlates with host metabolic changes, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The study evaluated 300 stool samples alongside matched serum metabolomes and clinical profiles collected across early, middle, and late pregnancy. Fifty participants experienced preterm birth, while 50 had term births.
Data for the study came from participants in the Tongji-Huaxi-Shuangliu Birth Cohort. Although individual maternal gut viromes remained personalized and longitudinally stable over time, preterm birth cases showed reduced virome convergence. Specific alterations in viral populations emerged during mid-to-late pregnancy, driven by host-phage remodeling in Klebsiella- and Prevotella-associated viral communities.
Metabolic Remodeling
The study linked these gut virome shifts to amino acid metabolic remodeling, particularly along glutamate- and aspartate-related pathways. Viral auxiliary metabolic genes and reproducible virus-metabolite associations supported these connections. Further analysis indicated that L-aspartate partly mediates associations between monocyte-related inflammatory indices and preterm birth.
Multi-omics modeling demonstrated that combined virome and metabolome signatures achieved strong predictive performance for both preterm birth and imminent delivery. Viral features contributed significantly to prediction accuracy and maintained their predictive value during external validation tests.
Xianyue Jiao, Yunhaonan Yang, and Fan Li contributed equally to the paper as lead authors alongside senior investigators Xiong-Fei Pan, An Pan, and Guanxiang Liang. Chengdu Phagetimes Biotech Co., Ltd provided technical support for the gut virome measurements, with funding supplied by the National Key R&D Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
