scholarly journals PSI-10 Establishing a foundation to harvest the potential of the microbiome in poultry production

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 293-294
Author(s):  
Camila S Marcolla ◽  
Benjamin Willing

Abstract This study aimed to characterize poultry microbiota composition in commercial farms using 16S rRNA sequencing. Animals raised in sanitized environments have lower survival rates when facing pathogenic challenges compared to animals naturally exposed to commensal organisms. We hypothesized that intensive rearing practices inadvertently impair chicken exposure to microbes and the establishment of a balanced gut microbiota. We compared gut microbiota composition of broilers (n = 78) and layers (n = 20) from different systems, including commercial intensive farms with and without in-feed antibiotics, organic free-range farms, backyard-raised chickens and chickens in an experimental farm. Microbial community composition of conventionally raised broilers was significantly different from antibiotic-free broilers (P = 0.012), from broilers raised outdoors (P = 0.048) and in an experimental farm (P = 0.006) (Fig1). Significant community composition differences were observed between antibiotic-fed and antibiotic-free chickens (Fig2). Antibiotic-free chickens presented higher alpha-diversity, higher relative abundance of Deferribacteres, Fusobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria, and lower relative abundance of Firmicutes, Clostridiales and Enterobacteriales than antibiotic-fed chickens (P < 0.001) (Fig3). Microbial community composition significantly changed as birds aged. In experimental farm, microbial community composition was significant different for 7, 21 and 35 day old broilers (P < 0.001), and alpha diversity increased from 7 to 21d (P < 0.024), but not from 21 to 35d; whereas, in organic systems, increases in alpha-diversity were observed from 7d to 21d, and from 21d to 35d (P < 0.05). Broilers and layers raised together showed no differences in microbiota composition and alpha diversity (P > 0.8). It is concluded that production practices consistently impact microbial composition, and that antibiotics significantly reduces microbial diversity. We are now exploring the impact of differential colonization in a controlled setting, to determine the impact of the microbes associated with extensively raised chickens. This study will support future research and the development of methods to isolate and introduce beneficial microbes to commercial systems.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Gaio ◽  
Matthew Z DeMaere ◽  
Kay Anantanawat ◽  
Graeme J Eamens ◽  
Michael Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundEarly weaning and intensive farming practices predispose piglets to the development of infectious and often lethal diseases, against which antibiotics are used. Besides contributing to the build-up of antimicrobial resistance, antibiotics are known to modulate the gut microbial composition. Studies have previously investigated the effects of probiotics as alternatives to antibiotic treatment for the prevention of post-weaning diarrhea. In order to describe the post-weaning gut microbiota, and the effects of two probiotics formulations and of intramuscular antibiotic treatment on the gut microbiota, we processed over 800 faecal time-series samples from 126 piglets and 42 sows, generating over 8Tbp of metagenomic shotgun sequence data. Here we describe the animal trial procedures, the generation of our metagenomic dataset and the analysis of the microbial community composition using a phylogenetic framework.ResultsFactors such as age, litter effects, and breed, by significantly correlating with gut microbial community shifts, can be major confounding factors in the assessment of treatment effects. Intramuscular antibiotic treatment and probiotic treatments were found to correlate with alpha and beta diversity, as well as with a transient establishment of Mollicutes and Lactobacillales, respectively. We found the abundance of certain taxa to correlate with weight gain.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate that breed, litter, and age, are important contributors to variation in the community composition, and that treatment effects of the antibiotic and probiotic treatments were subtle, while host age was the dominant factor in shaping the gut microbiota of piglets after weaning. The current study shows, by means of a phylogenetic diversity framework, that the post-weaning pig gut microbiome appears to follow a highly structured developmental program with characteristic post-weaning changes that can distinguish hosts that were born as little as two days apart in the second month of life.


mBio ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaeline B. N. Albright ◽  
Sanna Sevanto ◽  
La Verne Gallegos-Graves ◽  
John Dunbar

ABSTRACT Microbial probiotics are intended to improve functions in diverse ecosystems, yet probiotics often fail to establish in a preexisting microbiome. This is a species invasion problem. The relative importance of the two major factors controlling establishment in this context—propagule pressure (inoculation dose and frequency) and biotic interactions (composition of introduced and resident communities)—is unknown. We tested the effect of these factors in driving microbial composition and functioning following 12 microbial community invasions (e.g., introductions of many microbial invaders) in microcosms. Ecosystem functioning over a 30-day postinvasion period was assessed by measuring activity (respiration) and environment modification (dissolved organic carbon abundance). To test the dependence on environmental context, experiments were performed in two resource environments. In both environments, biotic interactions were more important than propagule pressure in driving microbial composition and community function, but the magnitude of effect varied by environment. Successful invaders comprised approximately 8% of the total number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Bacteria were better invaders than fungi, with average relative abundances of 7.4% ± 6.8% and 1.5% ± 1.4% of OTUs, respectively. Common bacterial invaders were associated with stress response traits. The most resilient bacterial and fungal families, in other words, those least impacted by invasions, were linked to antimicrobial resistance or production traits. Illuminating the principles that determine community composition and functioning following microbial invasions is key to efficient community engineering. IMPORTANCE With increasing frequency, humans are introducing new microbes into preexisting microbiomes to alter functioning. Example applications include modification of microflora in human guts for better health and those of soil for food security and/or climate management. Probiotic applications are often approached as trial-and-error endeavors and have mixed outcomes. We propose that increased success in microbiome engineering may be achieved with a better understanding of microbial invasions. We conducted a microbial community invasion experiment to test the relative importance of propagule pressure and biotic interactions in driving microbial community composition and ecosystem functioning in microcosms. We found that biotic interactions were more important than propagule pressure in determining the impact of microbial invasions. Furthermore, the principles for community engineering vary among organismal groups (bacteria versus fungi).


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 350
Author(s):  
Maartje I. Kristensen ◽  
Karin M. de Winter-de Groot ◽  
Gitte Berkers ◽  
Mei Ling J. N. Chu ◽  
Kayleigh Arp ◽  
...  

Ivacaftor has been shown to restore the functionality of the S1251N (also known as c.3752G>A) mutated CFTR, which may cause alterations in both airway and gut physiology and micro-environment, resulting in a change of microbiota in these organs. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effects of ivacaftor on the microbial community composition of both airway and gut in subjects with CF carrying one S1251N mutation, using a 16S rRNA gene-based sequencing approach. In 16 subjects with CF, repetitive samples from airways and gut were collected just before, and 2 months after, and, for 8 patients, also 9 and 12 months after, start of ivacaftor. 16S rRNA based sequencing identified 344 operational taxonomical units (OTUs) in a total of 139 samples (35 nasopharyngeal, 39 oropharyngeal, 29 sputum, and 36 fecal samples). Ivacaftor significantly enhanced bacterial diversity and overall microbiota composition in the gut (p < 0.01). There were no significant changes in the overall microbial composition and alpha diversity in upper and lower airways of these patients after ivacaftor treatment. Treatment with ivacaftor induces changes in gut microbiota whereas airway microbiota do not change significantly over time.


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 180
Author(s):  
Negash Kabtimer Bereded ◽  
Getachew Beneberu Abebe ◽  
Solomon Workneh Fanta ◽  
Manuel Curto ◽  
Herwig Waidbacher ◽  
...  

The gut microbiota of fishes is known to play an essential role in diverse aspects of host biology. The gut microbiota of fish is affected by various environmental parameters, including temperature changes, salinity and diet. Studies of effect of environment on gut microbiota enables to have a further understanding of what comprises a healthy microbiota under different environmental conditions. However, there is insufficient understanding regarding the effects of sampling season and catching site (wild and aquaculture) on the gut microbiota of Nile tilapia. This study characterised gut microbial composition and diversity from samples collected from Lake Tana and the Bahir Dar aquaculture facility centre using 16S rDNA Illumina MiSeq platform sequencing. Firmicutes and Fusobacteria were the most dominant phyla in the Lake Tana samples, while Proteobacteria was the most dominant in the aquaculture samples. The results of differential abundance testing clearly indicated significant differences for Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Cyanobacteria across sampling months. However, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Fusobacteria and Cyanobacteria were significantly enriched in the comparison of samples from the Lake Tana and aquaculture centre. Significant differences were observed in microbial diversity across sampling months and between wild and captive Nile tilapia. The alpha diversity clearly showed that samples from the aquaculture centre (captive) had a higher diversity than the wild Nile tilapia samples from Lake Tana. The core gut microbiota of all samples of Nile tilapia used in our study comprised Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Fusobacteria. This study clearly showed the impact of sampling season and catching site (wild and aquaculture) on the diversity and composition of bacterial communities associated with the gut of Nile tilapia. Overall, this is the first study on the effects of sampling season and catching site on the gut microbiota of Nile tilapia in Ethiopia. Future work is recommended to precisely explain the causes of these changes using large representative samples of Nile tilapia from different lakes and aquaculture farms.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmus H. Kirkegaard ◽  
Simon J. McIlroy ◽  
Jannie M. Kristensen ◽  
Marta Nierychlo ◽  
Søren M. Karst ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Fillinger ◽  
Kerstin Hürkamp ◽  
Christine Stumpp ◽  
Nina Weber ◽  
Dominik Forster ◽  
...  

Understanding microbial community dynamics in the alpine cryosphere is an important step toward assessing climate change impacts on these fragile ecosystems and meltwater-fed environments downstream. In this study, we analyzed microbial community composition, variation in community alpha and beta diversity, and the number of prokaryotic cells and virus-like particles (VLP) in seasonal snowpack from two consecutive years at three high altitude mountain summits along a longitudinal transect across the European Alps. Numbers of prokaryotic cells and VLP both ranged around 104 and 105 per mL of snow meltwater on average, with variation generally within one order of magnitude between sites and years. VLP-to-prokaryotic cell ratios spanned two orders of magnitude, with median values close to 1, and little variation between sites and years in the majority of cases. Estimates of microbial community alpha diversity inferred from Hill numbers revealed low contributions of common and abundant microbial taxa to the total taxon richness, and thus low community evenness. Similar to prokaryotic cell and VLP numbers, differences in alpha diversity between years and sites were generally relatively modest. In contrast, community composition displayed strong variation between sites and especially between years. Analyses of taxonomic and phylogenetic community composition showed that differences between sites within years were mainly characterized by changes in abundances of microbial taxa from similar phylogenetic clades, whereas shifts between years were due to significant phylogenetic turnover. Our findings on the spatiotemporal dynamics and magnitude of variation of microbial abundances, community diversity, and composition in surface snow may help define baseline levels to assess future impacts of climate change on the alpine cryosphere.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle D Curtis ◽  
Casey D Morrow ◽  
James B McClintock

Abstract There is growing evidence that environmental changes caused by climate change can impact the microbiome of marine invertebrates. Such changes can have important implications for the overall health of the host. In the present study we investigated the impact of chronic exposure to an ambient (28°C) and a predicted mid- (30°C) and end-of-century (32°C) seawater temperature on microbiome modification in tissues of the cardiac stomach of the abundant predatory sea star Luidia clathrata collected in September 2018 from Apalachee Bay, Florida (29°58’N, 84°19’W) in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Diversity (Shannon index) was lowest among the microbial community of stomach tissue when compared to the microbiome of the artificial sea star feed, and aquarium sand and seawater across all three experimental temperature treatments. Moreover, the stomach microbial community composition was distinct between each of the four sample types. Exposure to the highest experimental temperature treatment (32°C) resulted in a significant modification of the composition of the microbial community in stomach and sand samples, but not in seawater samples when compared to those from the current mean ambient GOM temperature (28°C). Importantly, at the most elevated temperature the stomach microbiome shifted from a Vibrio sp. dominated community to a more diverse community with higher proportions of additional taxa including Delftia sp. and Pseudomonas sp. This microbiome shift could impact the digestive functionality and ultimately the health of L. clathrata, a key soft-bottom predator in the northern GOM.


Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 525
Author(s):  
Brianna L. Boss ◽  
Bianca R. Charbonneau ◽  
Javier A. Izquierdo

The microbial community composition of coastal dunes can vary across environmental gradients, with the potential to impact erosion and deposition processes. In coastal foredunes, invasive plant species establishment can create and alter environmental gradients, thereby altering microbial communities and other ecogeomorphic processes with implications for storm response and management and conservation efforts. However, the mechanisms of these processes are poorly understood. To understand how changing microbial communities can alter these ecogeomorphic dynamics, one must first understand how soil microbial communities vary as a result of invasion. Towards this goal, bacterial communities were assessed spatially along foredune microhabitats, specifically in barren foredune toe and blowout microhabitats and in surrounding vegetated monocultures of native Ammophila breviligulata and invasive Carex kobomugi. Across dune microhabitats, microbial composition was more dissimilar in barren dune toe and blowout microhabitats than among the two plant species, but it did not appear that it would favor the establishment of one plant species over the other. However, the subtle differences between the microbial community composition of two species could ultimately aid in the success of the invasive species by reducing the proportions of bacterial genera associated exclusively with A. breviligulata. These results suggest that arrival time may be crucial in fostering microbiomes that would further the continued establishment and spread of either plant species.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document