Despite the fact that infant gut colonization patterns have been extensively studied, we have limited knowledge about the underlying ecological processes. This particularly relates to the ecological choice of nutrient utilization strategies. The aim of the current study was therefore to compare empirically determined nutrient utilization strategies with that expected from a combinatorial game theory model. Observational analyses for 100 mother–child pairs suggested mother–child transmission of specialists with the potential to use few nutrients. Generalists, on the other hand, with the potential to use many nutrients, peaked at three months of age for the children. The level of generalists was gradually replaced with specialists up to 12 months of age. Game theory simulation revealed a competitive advantage of generalists in an expanding population, while more specialized bacteria were favoured with the maturation of the population. This suggests that the observed increase in generalists in the three-month-old children could be due to an immature, expanding gut microbiota population while the increase of specialists at 12 months could be due to population maturation. The simulated and empirical data also correspond with respect to an increased α diversity and a decreased β diversity with the number of simulations and age, respectively. Taken together, game theory simulation of nutrient utilization strategies can therefore provide novel insight into the maturation of the human gut microbiota during infancy.

中文翻译：

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人类婴儿期肠道细菌营养利用策略的博弈论模型


尽管婴儿肠道定植模式已被广泛研究，但我们对潜在生态过程的了解有限。这尤其与养分利用策略的生态选择有关。因此，本研究的目的是将经验确定的养分利用策略与组合博弈论模型预期的策略进行比较。对 100 对母子的观察分析表明，母婴传播的专家可能会使用很少的营养物质。另一方面，通才具有利用多种营养素的潜力，在孩子三个月大时达到顶峰。直到 12 个月大时，通才级别逐渐被专才级别所取代。博弈论模拟揭示了在不断扩大的种群中通才的竞争优势，而随着种群的成熟，更专业的细菌受到青睐。这表明，观察到的 3 个月大儿童中通才的增加可能是由于肠道微生物群数量不成熟、不断扩大，而 12 个月大的儿童中专才的增加可能是由于种群成熟所致。模拟数据和经验数据还分别对应于随着模拟次数和年龄的增加，α多样性增加和β多样性减少。综上所述，营养利用策略的博弈论模拟可以为婴儿期人类肠道微生物群的成熟提供新的见解。