Project description:Neonatal mice were susceptible to cryptosporidium infection at 1- and 2-weeks of age, but were resistant to infection at 3- and 6-weeks of age. Diet and microbial changes are known to occur during the weaning transition in mice and we hypothesized that these changes in the intestinal luminal environment might influence resistance and susceptibility to cryptosporidium infection. As one part of testing this hypothesis, cecal microbiota composition was determined by 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing of DNA isolated from the cecal contents of mice at 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 6 weeks of age.