Abstract

Antibiotic resistance of microbes thriving in the animal gut is a growing concern for public health as it may serve as a hidden reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). We compared 16 control piglets to 24 piglets fed for 3 weeks with S1 or S2 fecal suspensions from two sows that were not exposed to antibiotics for at least 6 months: the first suspension decreased the erythromycin resistance gene ermB and the aminoglycoside phosphotransferase gene conferring resistance to kanamycine (aphA3), while the second decreased the tetracycline resistance gene tetL, with an unexpected increase in ARGs. Using 16S RNA sequencing, we identified microbial species that are likely to carry ARGs, such as the lincosamide nucleotidyltransferase lnuB, the cephalosporinase cepA, and the tetracycline resistance genes tetG and tetM, as well as microbes that never co-exist with the tetracycline resistance gene tetQ, the erythromycin resistance gene ermG and aphA3. Since 73% of the microbes detected in the sows were not detected in the piglets at weaning, a neutral model was applied to estimate whether a microbial species is more important than chance would predict. This model confirmed that force-feeding modifies the dynamics of gut colonization. In conclusion, early inoculation of gut microbes is an interesting possibility to stimulate gut microbiota towards a desirable state in pig production, but more work is needed to be able to predict which communities should be used.

Highlights

  • The prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in livestock is country-specific

  • ARGs in livestock may become a public health issue if they are transferred to pathogenic bacteria that inhabit the human gut

  • Oral Inoculation of Microbial Suspension Affected the ARGs in Piglet Feces

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Summary

Introduction

The prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in livestock is country-specific. Chinese pigs have more ARGs encoding resistance to chloramphenicol, gentamycin B, kanamycin and neomycin than their French and Danish conspecifics [1]. Country-specific ARG profiles exist within Europe, where microbiota of pigs from Italy have more of the streptomycin-resistant mutation strA than those from France, Denmark or Sweden [2]. The country-specific differences of ARGs in livestock seem to penetrate the human gut. The ARGs in Spanish, Danish and U.S citizens mirror the antibiotics used in livestock in each of these countries, such as streptomycin-resistance which is more prevalent in Spain than in Denmark [3]. ARGs in livestock may become a public health issue if they are transferred to pathogenic bacteria that inhabit the human gut

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