Abstract
Kazachstania slooffiae is a fungus commonly isolated from the gastrointestinal tract and feces of post-weaning pigs. Studies have implicated its ability to positively alter piglet gut health through potential symbioses with beneficial bacteria, including Lactobacillus and Prevotella, in providing amino acids as an energy source for microbial and piglet growth, and it has been found to be positively correlated with short-chain fatty acids in the piglet gut. However, basic mycological information remains limited, hampering in vitro studies. In this study, we characterized the growth parameters, biofilm formation ability, susceptibility to antimicrobials, and genetic relatedness of K. slooffiae to other fungal isolates. Optimal fungal growth conditions were determined, no antifungal resistance was found against multiple classes of antifungal drugs (azoles, echinocandins, polyenes, or pyrimidine analogues), and dimorphic growth was observed. K. slooffiae produced biofilms that became more complex in the presence of Lactobacillus acidophilus supernatant, suggesting positive interactions with this bacterium in the gut, while Enterococcus faecalis supernatant decreased density, suggesting an antagonistic interaction. This study characterizes the in vitro growth conditions that are optimal for further studies of K. slooffiae, which is an important step in defining the role and interactions of K. slooffiae in the porcine gut environment.
Highlights
Weaning is a critical phase in piglet life and is associated with increased stress, reduced growth performance, and predisposition to opportunistic infections such as post-weaning diarrhea [1,2,3]
Due to the potential importance of K. slooffiae in piglet health, we aimed to investigate optimal growth conditions, biofilm formation ability, expected DNA amplicons, and other in vitro assessments
K. slooffiae was able to efficiently grow on Yeast Potato Dextrose Agar (YPD) or SD agars but displayed colony morphology alterations based on the nutrient base (Figure 1)
Summary
Weaning is a critical phase in piglet life and is associated with increased stress, reduced growth performance, and predisposition to opportunistic infections such as post-weaning diarrhea [1,2,3]. The ability to identify potential growth promotants in agricultural animals is critical to reduce infections seen during weaning, promote pork production, and reduce farmer loss. Significant alterations in the composition of the bacteriome and mycobiome have been documented during the weaning transition, but specific interactions between the microbiome and the immune system, that result in altered growth, remain to be determined. Members of the mycobiome can alter host health, and disruption of members of the mycobiome can result in disease [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. Commensal fungi can alter host immunity during normal health as well as modify the severity of some diseases [13,14,15,16,17,18]
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