A meta-analysis of infant gut viromes reveals global patterns in bacteriophage community assembly and functional capacity over the first three years of life

A meta-analysis of 12 infant cohorts across 8 countries (1,893 samples from 999 infants) models gut virome development over the first three years of life. Viral richness rose significantly over the first eight months alongside a loss of community evenness, and infant viromes became more similar with age; the transition to a stable state involved fewer extracellular temperate phages and shifts in phage-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes.