Abstract
BackgroundInfection of newly hatched chicks with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) results in an inflammatory response in the intestinal tract which may influence the composition of gut microbiota. In this study we were therefore interested whether S. Enteritidis induced inflammation results in changes in the cecal microbiota. To reach this aim, we compared the cecal microbiota of non-infected chickens and those infected by S. Enteritidis by pyrosequencing the V3/V4 variable regions of genes coding for 16S rRNA.ResultsCecal microbiota of chickens up to 19 days of life was dominated by representatives of Enterobacteriaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae, followed by Lactobacillaceae. The presence of Lachnospiraceae did not change after S. Enteritidis infection. Enterobacteriaceae increased and Ruminococcaceae decreased after S. Enteritidis infection in two independent experiments although these results were not significant. A significant increase in both experiments was observed only for the representatives of Lactobacillaceae which may correlate with their microaerophilic growth characteristic compared to the obligate anaerobes from the families Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae.ConclusionsWe conclude that S. Enteritidis infection influences the composition of the cecal microbiota in chickens but these changes are minor in nature and should be understood more as an indirect consequence of infection and inflammation rather than a positively selected evolutionary trait.
Highlights
Infection of newly hatched chicks with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis
Changes in the composition of gut microbiota caused by inflammation are observed in animals or humans infected with non-typhoid serovars of Salmonella enterica [15,16,17,18]
We identified species which decreased or increased after the infection, overall we did not detect any large scale changes indicating that modification and overgrowth of the cecal microbiota is not a major driving force in the evolution of Salmonella – chicken interactions
Summary
Infection of newly hatched chicks with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) results in an inflammatory response in the intestinal tract which may influence the composition of gut microbiota. Changes in the composition of gut microbiota caused by inflammation are observed in animals or humans infected with non-typhoid serovars of Salmonella enterica [15,16,17,18]. An influx of phagocytes into the inflamed intestinal tract following S. enterica infection results in the production of antimicrobial metabolites such as proteases, reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide radicals and chelators of bacterial siderophores. Some of these antimicrobial products result in pathogen inactivation and in damage to the host’s own tissue, damage to the integrity of the intestinal epithelium and efflux of electrolytes clinically manifesting as diarrhea. It is unknown to what extent these S. enterica adaptations will result in changes to the composition of gut microbiota
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