Comparative Study on Jejunal Immunity and Microbial Composition of Growing-Period Tibetan Pigs and Duroc × (Landrace × Yorkshire) Pigs

Abstract

The gut microbiota plays vital roles in metabolizing nutrient, maintaining the intestinal epithelial barrier but also in modulating immunity. Host genetics and the pig breed are implicated in shaping gut microbiota. Tibetan pig is a unique native Chinese breed and has evolved to manifest a strong disease resistance. However, the immunity and microbiota of growing Tibetan (TP) pigs were still rarely understood. The jejunal immunity phenotype and microbial composition of TP and Duroc × (Landrace × Yorkshire) (DLY) pigs were explored through immunohistochemistry and 16S rRNA sequencing. Higher scores of clusters of differentiation 4 (CD4+) and Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) were observed in TP pigs than those of DLY pigs (p < 0.05), as were Interleukin 10 (IL-10) and zonular occludens 1 (ZO-1) (p < 0.01). Similar levels of bacterial richness and diversity were found in the jejunal microbiota of the TP and DLY pigs. However, the TP pigs showed a significantly different microbiome compared to DLY pigs at the genus level (ANOSIM; p < 0.05). Pseudomonas, Stenotrophomonas, Phenylobacterium, and Sandaracinobacter were enriched in DLY pigs (p < 0.05), while the Lactobacillus and Solibacillus had higher abundances in TP pigs than DLY pigs (p < 0.05). Tibetan pigs have “healthier” intestinal microbial communities than DLY pigs. Close relationships were found between jejunal immune performance and the differential bacteria, Lactobacillus can enhance porcine jejunal immunity, while Stenotrophomonas will have a negative impact on porcine gut immunity.

Swine farm environmental microbiome: exploring microbial ecology and functionality across farms with high and low sanitary status

“…Regarding the specific genera observed in LHS farms, more that are considered detrimental bacteria were observed. Some of them related to the host, such as Solibacillus , negatively correlated with crypt depth ( 58 ); or Sporobacter , suggested to have a negative role in gut health and associated with Salmonella positive free-range pigs ( 59 , 60 ). There were also pathogens associated with ectoparasites, such as Wohlfahrtiimonas , causing several diseases in humans related to traumatic skin lesions, myiasis, wound contamination and sepsis ( 61 ); or Rickettsia , an obligate intracellular pathogen that causes diseases in humans, as well as domestic and wild animals, through vector transmission ( 62 ).…”

Correlation analysis between jejunum metabolites and immune function in Saba and Landrace piglets

“…For determination of immune indices, we following antibodies from Servicebio Technology, Wuhan, CN: rabbit anti-ZO-1 (#GB11195, 1:200), rabbit anti-1L-1β, rabbit anti-1L-6 (#GB11113 and #GB11117, 1:800), rabbit anti-1L-10 (#GB11108, 1:300), mouse anti-TLR4 (#GB11269, 1:100), rabbit anti-TLR2 (#GB11554, 1:500), and rabbit anti-MUC-2 (#GB11344, 1:1,000) primary antibodies and an HRP-conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG (#GB23303, 1:200) as a secondary antibody. The methods were based on those reported by Yang et al ( 21 ).…”

Biosynthetic Gene Clusters from Swine Gut Microbiome

“…Highly diverse and complex microbiota exist in the gastrointestinal tract of pigs with distinct longitudinal, radial, and timely distributions [ 11 ]. Increasingly, studies have demonstrated that both swine genetics and gut microbial composition play crucial roles in nutrient metabolism and disease resistance [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. The pig is one of the most omnivorous of domesticated farm animal species, which easily adapts to various plant-based feed and carcasses [ 15 ].…”