Evolution of Pig Fecal Microbiota Composition and Diversity in Response to Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Infection and Colistin Treatment in Weaned Piglets.

Mohamed Rhouma,Charlotte Braley,William Thériault,Philippe Fravalo,Alexandre Thibodeau,Sylvain Quessy

doi:10.3390/microorganisms9071459

Mohamed Rhouma, Charlotte Braley + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9071459

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Abstract

The intestinal microbiota plays several important roles in pig health and growth. The aim of the current study was to characterize the changes in the fecal microbiota diversity and composition of weaned piglets following an oral challenge with an ETEC: F4 strain and/or a treatment with colistin sulfate (CS). Twenty-eight piglets were used in this experiment and were divided into four groups: challenged untreated, challenged treated, unchallenged treated, and unchallenged untreated. Rectal swab samples were collected at five sampling times throughout the study. Total genomic DNA was used to assess the fecal microbiota diversity and composition using the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. The relative abundance, the composition, and the community structure of piglet fecal microbiota was highly affected by the ETEC: F4 challenge throughout the experiment, while the oral treatment with CS, a narrow spectrum antibiotic, resulted in a significant decrease of E. coli/Shigella populations during the treatment period only. This study was the first to identify some gut microbiota subgroups (e.g., Streptococcus, Lachnospiraceae) that are associated with healthy piglets as compared to ETEC: F4 challenged animals. These key findings might contribute to the development of alternative strategies to reduce the use of antimicrobials in the control of post-weaning diarrhea in pigs.

Highlights

During the last decade, increasing attention has been paid to the study of the intestinal microbiota of mammals and its relationship to health, well-being, nutrition, and disease [1,2,3]
These studies were facilitated by the development of culture-independent techniques that use the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene as a molecular target to analyse the diversity of a given microbiota [4,5]
It is noteworthy that 7 rectal swab samples (4 from the groups of pigs each: challenged untreated (group A), 1 from group B, 1 from group C, and 1 from group D) were not considered in the fecal microbiota analysis because the bacterial DNA

Summary

Introduction

During the last decade, increasing attention has been paid to the study of the intestinal microbiota of mammals and its relationship to health, well-being, nutrition, and disease [1,2,3]. These studies were facilitated by the development of culture-independent techniques that use the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene as a molecular target to analyse the diversity of a given microbiota [4,5]. The community composition and structure of pig gut bacteria is largely determined by factors such as diet, age, genetics, environmental conditions, microbial infection, and antimicrobial exposure [8,9].

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