Analysis of the intestinal microbial community altered during rotavirus infection in suckling mice

Abstract

Background Rotavirus (RV) is a principal cause of diarrhea. However, there is a limited understanding regarding alteration of the gut microbial community structure and abundance during RV infection. This study was to characterize any potential associations between RV infection and the intestinal microbiota. Methods Suckling mice were divided into normal group (NC) and infected group (RV) randomly. All of the suckling mice were euthanized four days post-RV infection. The virus titer was counted as fluorescent focus assay, and viral load was quantified by QPCR. Five sucking mice were randomly selected from each RV group and NC group for sample collection and pathological analysis. Mixed intestinal contents of the colon and rectum were collected from all of the suckling mice. To investigate the detailed relationship between RV infection and intestinal microbiota, the composition and distribution of intestinal microbiota from suckling mice were first analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing technology. Results The results of the pathological characteristics showed that vacuolar degeneration, vasodilation, hyperemia, and destruction of the intestinal epithelium were apparent in the RV group. Representative genera from Lactobacillus and Fusobacterium were enriched in the NC group, while the Enterococcus and Escherichia/Shigella genera were enriched in the RV group. Helicobacter, Alloprevotrlla, Brevundimonas, Paenibacillus, and Parabacteroides were completely undetectable in the RV group. The predicted intestinal flora metabolic function results showed that “carbohydrate metabolism” and “lipid metabolism” pathways were significantly enriched within the NC group. A significant difference has been observed in the gut microbiota composition between the two groups. Conclusions Our results demonstrated a significant difference in the gut microbiota composition in RV-infected suckling mice as compared to the RV un-infected suckling mice group. This work may provide meaningful information regarding the bacterial genera changed during RV infection. Moreover, the changes in these bacteria may be related with the replication and pathogenesis of RV infection.

Alterations of microbiota and metabolites in the feces of calves with diarrhea associated with rotavirus and coronavirus infections

“…In a previous study, Chao 1 indices and Shannon indices were significantly reduced in the feces of diarrheal calves with BRV infection, while Simpson indices were significantly increased (Jang et al, 2019). Similarly, significant reductions in the α diversity of gut microbiota have been observed in human infants and other studied species (Engevik et al, 2020;Xiong et al, 2021;Zhao et al, 2021). There are some agreements or contradictions between our results and previous studies.…”

“…There are some agreements or contradictions between our results and previous studies. Only Chao 1 indices significantly increased in the fecal microbiota of human infants infected with rotavirus, while no significant difference is observed in all alpha diversity indices of the fecal microbiota of suckling mice with rotavirus-associated diarrhea (Xiong et al, 2021;Zhao et al, 2021). An explanation for these differences would be that changes in the gut microbiota of newborn animals are influenced by a variety of factors, including environment, diet, age, gender, and the type and virulence of viruses infected (Castro et al, 2016).…”

Crosstalk between imbalanced gut microbiota caused by antibiotic exposure and rotavirus replication in the intestine

“…The proportion of Bacteroides and Parabacteroides was increased, while the proportion of Firmicutes and Euryarchaeota was decreased when compared to healthy group. Interestingly, several studies based on RV-caused diarrhea in infants or neonatal mice observed a decrease in the abundance of Bacteroides [ 22 , 25 ], which is contradict with our finding. Since gut microbiota in 5-year-old children has not reached adult complexity yet [ 26 ], perhaps it exerts its impact on RV replication in a different way with adults.…”

Intestinal Ecology Changes in Diarrheic Père David’s Deer Revealed by Gut Microbiota and Fecal Metabolites Analysis

“…In our study, a significant reduction in gut microbial abundance and diversity was observed in diarrheic Père David’s deer ( Figure 1 ). Similar data were reported in diarrheic humans ( Homo sapiens ) [ 32 ], mice ( Mus musculus ) [ 33 ], Baer’s pochards ( Aythya baeri ) [ 23 ], musk deer ( Moschus berezovskii ) [ 19 ], and giraffes ( Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata ) [ 24 ]. Thus, gut microbiota diversity reductions may be typical features in diarrheic individuals, no matter the diarrhea type or causative species.…”