Abstract
Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a member of the Coronaviridae family, causes serious losses to the poultry industry. Intestinal microbiota play an important role in chicken health and contribute to the defence against colonization by invading pathogens. The aim of this study was to investigate the link between the intestinal microbiome and nephropathogenic IBV (NIBV) infection. Initially, chickens were randomly distributed into 2 groups: the normal group (INC) and the infected group (IIBV). The ilea were collected for morphological assessment, and the ileal contents were collected for 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. The results of the IIBV group analyses showed a significant decrease in the ratio of villus height to crypt depth (P < 0.05), while the goblet cells increased compared to those in the INC group. Furthermore, the microbial diversity in the ilea decreased and overrepresentation of Enterobacteriaceae and underrepresentation of Chloroplast and Clostridia was found in the NIBV-infected chickens. In conclusion, these results showed that the significant separation of the two groups and the characterization of the gut microbiome profiles of the chickens with NIBV infection may provide valuable information and promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of this disease.
Highlights
Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a member of the Coronaviridae family, causes serious losses to the poultry industry
All the nephropathogenic IBV (NIBV)-infected chickens in the IIBV group were listless, huddled together, had watery faeces, and displayed ruffled feathers from 3 to 9 days post-inoculation, and the morbidity was higher than 90%
It is known that the bacterial 16S rRNA gene consists of nine hypervariable regions, and sequences generated by applying different combinations of these regions generally present differing profiles of microbial diversity
Summary
Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a member of the Coronaviridae family, causes serious losses to the poultry industry. The aim of this study was to investigate the link between the intestinal microbiome and nephropathogenic IBV (NIBV) infection. The microbial diversity in the ilea decreased and overrepresentation of Enterobacteriaceae and underrepresentation of Chloroplast and Clostridia was found in the NIBVinfected chickens These results showed that the significant separation of the two groups and the characterization of the gut microbiome profiles of the chickens with NIBV infection may provide valuable information and promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of this disease. The exploration of the chicken intestinal microbiota has primarily been researched by culture-based methods[22] These methods have limitations: they are inapplicable to nonculturable bacteria and are selective for readily cultivated bacteria[13]. We elucidated the effects of NIBV infection on the chicken gut microbiome by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Further investigation into the mechanism of this shift will help us understand IBV infection and provide a potential approach to diagnose, treat and prevent interventions
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