Negligible Impact of Perinatal Tulathromycin Metaphylaxis on the Developmental Dynamics of Fecal Microbiota and Their Accompanying Antimicrobial Resistome in Piglets.

Mohamed M Zeineldin,James Lowe,Ameer Megahed,Benjamin Blair,Brian Aldridge,Brandi Burton

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00726

Abstract

While the antimicrobial resistance profiles of cultured pathogens have been characterized in swine, the fluctuations in antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) associated with the developing gastrointestinal microbiota have not been elucidated. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of perinatal tulathromycin (TUL) metaphylaxis on the developmental dynamics of fecal microbiota and their accompanying antimicrobial resistome in pre-weaned piglets. Sixteen litters were given one of two treatments [control group (CONT; saline 1cc IM) and TUL group (TUL; 2.5 mg/kg IM)] directly after birth. Deep fecal swabs were collected at day 0 (prior to treatment), and again at days 5 and 20 post treatment. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing was performed on the extracted DNA, and the fecal microbiota structure and abundance of ARGs were assessed. Collectively, the swine fecal microbiota and their accompanying ARGs were diverse and established soon after birth. Across all samples, a total of 127 ARGs related to 19 different classes of antibiotics were identified. The majority of identified ARGs were observed in both experimental groups and at all-time points. The magnitude and extent of differences in microbial composition and abundance of ARGs between the TUL and CONT groups were statistically insignificant. However, both fecal microbiota composition and ARGs abundance were changed significantly between different sampling days. In combination, these results indicate that the perinatal TUL metaphylaxis has no measurable benefits or detriment impacts on fecal microbiota structure and abundance of ARGs in pre-weaned piglets.

Highlights

In swine production industry, antimicrobials are the most common prescribed drug primarily for treatment and prevention of diseases (Cromwell, 2002)
We used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to assess the developmental dynamics of fecal microbiota and their accompanying antimicrobial resistome in the newborn piglets in response to TUL metaphylaxis soon after birth
While our study revealed that the age is the most significant contributor in the fecal microbiota development, understanding the early colonization pattern of gut microbiota will open the door to new perspectives related to the impacts of early life antimicrobials administration on the health of neonates in the swine management systems

Summary

Introduction

Antimicrobials are the most common prescribed drug primarily for treatment and prevention of diseases (Cromwell, 2002). Impacts of Tulathromycin on Piglets Microbiota and Resistome use in livestock to the development of antimicrobial resistance in people (Founou et al, 2016; Connelly et al, 2018). To overcome the resistance problem, the livestock production system must optimize the use of antimicrobial treatment (Maron et al, 2013). The key step in this optimization process is to understand the mechanism and extent by which antimicrobial intervention affects the resident microbiota, and their accompanying ARGs (Allen et al, 2014). The ability to link the changes in the developmental dynamics of resident microbiota to their accompanying antimicrobial resistome is crucial in managing and preventing this global health threat. The advancements in high-throughput sequencing techniques, have improved our understanding about the gastrointestinal tract bacterial populations, and helped the researchers to quantitatively assess the dissemination of ARGs in different environments (Zhao et al, 2017)

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