Abstract
Simple SummaryThe archaeal population, or ‘archaeome’, is comprised of unicellular microorganisms with a distinct biology compared with bacteria and has been shown to be an important component of host-associated microbes. While the impact of antimicrobial administration on gastrointestinal microbiota has been widely evaluated, no metagenomics-based analysis has been performed to assess the impact of an early life antimicrobials intervention on the fecal archaeome in swine. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the impact of perinatal tulathromycin (TUL) administration on the fecal archaeome composition and diversity in suckling piglets using metagenomic sequencing analysis. Our results suggest that perinatal TUL metaphylaxis seems to have a minimal effect on the gut archaeome composition and diversity in sucking piglets.The gastrointestinal microbiome plays an important role in swine health and wellbeing, but the gut archaeome structure and function in swine remain largely unexplored. To date, no metagenomics-based analysis has been done to assess the impact of an early life antimicrobials intervention on the gut archaeome. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of perinatal tulathromycin (TUL) administration on the fecal archaeome composition and diversity in suckling piglets using metagenomic sequencing analysis. Sixteen litters were administered one of two treatments (TUL; 2.5 mg/kg IM and control (CONT); saline 1cc IM) soon after birth. Deep fecal swabs were collected from all piglets on days 0 (prior to treatment), 5, and 20 post intervention. Each piglet’s fecal archaeome was composed of rich and diverse communities that showed significant changes over time during the suckling period. At the phylum level, 98.24% of the fecal archaeome across all samples belonged to Euryarchaeota. At the genus level, the predominant archaeal genera across all samples were Methanobrevibacter (43.31%), Methanosarcina (10.84%), Methanococcus (6.51%), and Methanocorpusculum (6.01%). The composition and diversity of the fecal archaeome between the TUL and CONT groups at the same time points were statistically insignificant. Our findings indicate that perinatal TUL metaphylaxis seems to have a minimal effect on the gut archaeome composition and diversity in sucking piglets. This study improves our current understanding of the fecal archaeome structure in sucking piglets and provides a rationale for future studies to decipher its role in and impact on host robustness during this critical phase of production.
Highlights
This article is an open access articleThe gastrointestinal microbiome has long been known to play major roles in swine health and well-being [1,2,3]
Several studies have investigated the impact of antimicrobial administration on the composition and diversity of the swine gut microbiota [21,22,23,30], no information is available on its impacts on the fecal archaeome in neonatal piglets
We evaluated the effect of an early life TUL treatment on the fecal archaeome composition and diversity in piglets during the suckling period
Summary
The gastrointestinal microbiome has long been known to play major roles in swine health and well-being [1,2,3]. It has been recognized that the piglet’s gastrointestinal ecosystem undergoes a significant shift and dramatic transition from a sterile state to dense colonization during early life [4,5,6]. Can significantly impact later-life outcomes [7,8]. The swine gastrointestinal tract is a very dynamic and diverse complex ecosystem that hosts several species of microbes, including bacteria, eukaryotes, archaea, and viruses [9,10]. Because resident bacterial populations constitute the most abundant part of the swine microbiome, their impact on swine health and disease has been studied extensively [11,12]. There is an urgent need to investigate the interplay between all present members of the microbiota and include community members of other domains of life
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