The feline gastrointestinal microbiota have direct influence on feline health and also human health as a reservoir for potential zoonotic pathogens and antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. In order to describe the feline gastrointestinal microbial diversity, fecal samples from cats have been characterized using both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. However, data correlating total microbial composition and their functions are lacking. Present descriptive study evaluated both phylogenetic and metabolic diversity of the feline intestinal microbiota using GS Junior titanium shotgun pyrosequencing. A total of 152,494 pyrosequencing reads (5405 assembled contigs) were generated and classified into both phylogenetic and metabolic profiles of the feline intestinal microbiota. The Bacteroides/Chlorobi group was the most predominant bacterial phylum comprising ~68% of total classified diversity, followed by Firmicutes (~13%) and Proteobacteria (~6%) respectively. Archaea, fungi and viruses made up the minor communities in the overall microbial diversity. Interestingly, this study also identified a range of potential enteric zoonotic pathogens (0.02-1.25%) and genes involved in antimicrobial resistance (0.02-0.7%) in feline fecal materials. Based on clustering among nine gastrointestinal metagenomes from five different monogastric hosts (dog, human, mice, cat and chicken), the cat metagenome clustered closely together with chicken in both phylogenetic and metabolic level (>80%). Future studies are required to provide deeper understandings on both intrinsic and extrinsic effects such as impact of age, genetics and dietary interventions on the composition of the feline gastrointestinal microbiome.

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BackgroundAtherosclerosis appears to have multifactorial causes – microbial component like lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and other pathogen associated molecular patterns may be plausible factors. The gut microbiota is an ample source of such stimulants, and its dependent metabolites and altered gut metagenome has been an established link to atherosclerosis. In this exploratory pilot study, we aimed to elucidate whether microbial intervention with probiotics L. rhamnosus GG (LGG) or pharmaceuticals telmisartan (TLM) could improve atherosclerosis in a gut microbiota associated manner.MethodsAtherosclerotic phenotype was established by 12 weeks feeding of high fat (HF) diet as opposed to normal chow diet (ND) in apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE−/−) mice. LGG or TLM supplementation to HF diet was studied.ResultsBoth LGG and TLM significantly reduced atherosclerotic plaque size and improved various biomarkers including endotoxin to different extents. Colonial microbiota analysis revealed that TLM restored HF diet induced increase in Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and decrease in alpha diversity; and led to a more distinct microbial clustering closer to ND in PCoA plot. Eubacteria, Anaeroplasma, Roseburia, Oscillospira and Dehalobacteria appeared to be protective against atherosclerosis and showed significant negative correlation with atherosclerotic plaque size and plasma adipocyte – fatty acid binding protein (A-FABP) and cholesterol.ConclusionLGG and TLM improved atherosclerosis with TLM having a more distinct alteration in the colonic gut microbiota. Altered bacteria genera and reduced alpha diversity had significant correlations to atherosclerotic plaque size, plasma A-FABP and cholesterol. Future studies on such bacterial functional influence in lipid metabolism will be warranted.

there was a marked increase in the number of infections with highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (HP-PRRSV) in China. Through phylogenetic analysis, we show that viruses from this outbreak originated from a single recombination event, illustrating the potential importance of this process for disease emergence.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is one of the leading swine pathogens causing tremendous economic loss to the global swine industry due to its virulence, pathogenesis, infectivity and transmissibility. Although formally recognized only two and half decades ago, molecular dating estimation indicates a more ancient evolutionary history, which involved divergence into two genotypes (type 1 and type 2) prior to the 'initial' outbreaks of the late 1980s. Type 2 PRRSV circulates primarily in North America and Asia. The relatively greater availability of sequence data for this genotype from widespread geographical territories has enabled a better understanding of the evolving genotype. However, there are a number of challenges in terms of the vastness of data available and what this indicates in the context of viral diversity. Accordingly, here we revisit the mechanisms by which PRRSV generates variability, describe a means of organizing type 2 diversity captured in voluminous ORF5 sequences in a phylogenetic framework and provide a holistic view of known global type 2 diversity in the same setting. The consequences of the expanding diversity for control measures such as vaccination are discussed, as well as the contribution of modified live vaccines to the circulation of field isolates. We end by highlighting some limitations of current molecular epidemiology studies in relation to inferring PRRSV diversity, and what steps can be taken to overcome these and additionally enable PRRSV sequence data to be informative about viral phenotypic traits such as virulence.