| Summary: | Maternal body composition, gestational weight gain (GWG) and diet quality influence offspring obesity risk. While the gut microbiome is thought to play a crucial role, it is understudied in pregnancy. Using a longitudinal pregnancy cohort, maternal anthropometrics, body composition, fecal microbiome and dietary intake were assessed at 12, 24 and 36 weeks of gestation. Fecal samples (<i>n</i> = 101, 98 and 107, at each trimester, respectively) were utilized for microbiome analysis via 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Data analysis included alpha- and beta-diversity measures and assessment of compositional changes using <i>MaAsLin2</i>. Correlation analyses of serum metabolic and anthropometric markers were performed against bacterial abundance and predicted functional pathways. α-diversity was unaltered by pregnancy stage or maternal obesity status. Actinobacteria, <i>Lachnospiraceae</i>, <i>Akkermansia</i>, <i>Bifidobacterium</i>, <i>Streptococcus</i> and <i>Anaerotuncus</i> abundances were associated with gestation stage. Maternal obesity status was associated with increased abundance <i>of Lachnospiraceae</i>, <i>Bilophila</i>, <i>Dialister</i> and <i>Roseburia</i>. Maternal BMI, fat mass, triglyceride and insulin levels were positively associated with <i>Bilophila</i>. Correlations of bacterial abundance with diet intake showed that <i>Ruminococcus</i> and <i>Paraprevotella</i> were associated with total fat and unsaturated fatty acid intake, while <i>Collinsella</i> and <i>Anaerostipes</i> were associated with protein intake. While causal relationships remain unclear, collectively, these findings indicate pregnancy- and maternal obesity-dependent interactions between dietary factors and the maternal gut microbiome.
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