Serum metabolomics in chickens infected with Cryptosporidium baileyi

Xue-Mei Wu,Xian-Cheng Fan,Long-Xian Zhang,Xi Chen,Guang-Hui Zhao,Yu-Xin Wang,Xin Yang,Jun-Ke Song

doi:10.1186/s13071-021-04834-y

Abstract

BackgroundCryptosporidium baileyi is an economically important zoonotic pathogen that causes serious respiratory symptoms in chickens for which no effective control measures are currently available. An accumulating body of evidence indicates the potential and usefulness of metabolomics to further our understanding of the interaction between pathogens and hosts, and to search for new diagnostic or pharmacological biomarkers of complex microorganisms. The aim of this study was to identify the impact of C. baileyi infection on the serum metabolism of chickens and to assess several metabolites as potential diagnostic biomarkers for C. baileyi infection.MethodsUltraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) and subsequent multivariate statistical analysis were applied to investigate metabolomics profiles in the serum samples of chickens infected with C. baileyi, and to identify potential metabolites that can be used to distinguish chickens infected with C. baileyi from non-infected birds.ResultsMultivariate statistical analysis identified 138 differential serum metabolites between mock- and C. baileyi-infected chickens at 5 days post-infection (dpi), including 115 upregulated and 23 downregulated compounds. These metabolites were significantly enriched into six pathways, of which two pathways associated with energy and lipid metabolism, namely glycerophospholipid metabolism and sphingolipid metabolism, respectively, were the most enriched. Interestingly, some important immune-related pathways were also significantly enriched, including the intestinal immune network for IgA production, autophagy and cellular senescence. Nine potential C. baileyi-responsive metabolites were identified, including choline, sirolimus, all-trans retinoic acid, PC(14:0/22:1(13Z)), PC(15:0/22:6(4Z,7Z,10Z,13Z,16Z,19Z)), PE(16:1(9Z)/24:1(15Z)), phosphocholine, SM(d18:0/16:1(9Z)(OH)) and sphinganine.ConclusionsThis is the first report on serum metabolic profiling of chickens with early-stage C. baileyi infection. The results provide novel insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of C. baileyi in chickens.Graphic abstract

Highlights

Cryptosporidium baileyi is an economically important zoonotic pathogen that causes serious respira‐ tory symptoms in chickens for which no effective control measures are currently available
Numerous analytical platforms are applied in metabolomic studies, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas or liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC–MS/Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC–MS)) [27]
Chickens in the experimental group were orally infected with 1 × 106 C. baileyi oocysts at 3 days after birth according to our previous study [36], while mock birds were orally inoculated with the same volume of phosphate buffer saline

Summary

Introduction

Cryptosporidium baileyi is an economically important zoonotic pathogen that causes serious respira‐ tory symptoms in chickens for which no effective control measures are currently available. The aim of this study was to identify the impact of C. baileyi infection on the serum metabolism of chickens and to assess several metabolites as potential diagnostic biomarkers for C. baileyi infection. Metabolomics, an increasingly recognized approach for identifying and quantifying multiple small chemical metabolites in complex biological samples, has been proved to be useful in the search for new diagnostic or pharmacological biomarkers of complex microorganisms (e.g. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Toxoplasma gondii) [15, 16] as well as for improving our understanding of dormant and intricate interactions between hosts and pathogens [17,18,19,20,21,22]. We explored the serum metabolomic profiles of chickens in the early stages of C. baileyi infection

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