Culturing the Chicken Intestinal Microbiota and Potential Application as Probiotics Development

Abstract

Pure cultures of chicken intestinal microbial species may still be crucial and imperative to expound on the function of gut microbiota, and also contribute to the development of potential probiotics and novel bioactive metabolites from gut microbiota. In this study, we isolated and identified 507 chicken intestinal bacterial isolates, including 89 previously uncultured isolates. Among these, a total of 63 Lactobacillus strains, belonging to L. vaginalis, L. crispatus, L. gallinarum, L. reuteri, L. salivarius, and L. saerimneri, exhibited antibacterial activity against S. Pullorum. Acid tolerance tests showed Limosilactobacillus reuteri strain YPG14 (L. reuteri strain YPG14) has a particularly strong tolerance to acid. We further characterized other probiotic properties of L. reuteri strain YPG14. In simulated intestinal fluid, the growth of L. reuteri strain YPG14 remained stable after incubation for 4 h. The auto-aggregation test showed the auto-aggregation percentage of L. reuteri strain YPG14 was recorded as 15.0 ± 0.38%, 48.3 ± 2.51%, and 75.1 ± 4.44% at 3, 12, and 24 h, respectively. In addition, the mucin binding assay showed L. reuteri strain YPG14 exhibited 12.07 ± 0.02% adhesion to mucin. Antibiotic sensitivity testing showed that L. reuteri strain YPG14 was sensitive to the majority of the tested antibiotics. The anti-Salmonella Pullorum (S. Pullorum) infection effect in vivo revealed that the consumption of L. reuteri strain YPG14 could significantly improve body weight loss and survival rate of chicks infected by S. Pullorum; reduce the loads of S. Pullorum in the jejunum, liver, spleen, and feces; and alleviate the jejunum villi morphological structure damage, crypt loss, and inflammatory cell infiltration caused by S. Pullorum. Overall, this study may help us to understand the diversity of chicken intestinal microflora and provide some insights for potential probiotic development from gut microbiota and may find application in the poultry industry.

Isolation and Identification of Chicken-Derived Lactic Acid Bacteria: In Vitro Probiotic Properties and Antagonistic Effects against Salmonella pullorum, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli

“…Research has found that a Limosilactobacillus reuteri strain isolated from a mixture of feces, intestinal contents, and intestinal mucosa of chicken exhibited outstanding antibacterial activity against S. pullorum and fine tolerance to acid and simulated intestinal fluid. Animal experiments have shown that dietary supplementation with this strain improved weight loss, reduced the loads of S. pullorum in the intestine and viscera, and decreased intestinal inflammation of the broilers challenged with S. pullorum [56]. In the future, we will adopt animal experiments to test the effects of the Lactobacilli on the growth performance and intestinal health of chickens.…”

Polygonatum kingianum Polysaccharides Enhance the Preventive Efficacy of Heat-Inactivated Limosilactobacillus reuteri WX-94 against High-Fat-High-Sucrose-Induced Liver Injury and Gut Dysbacteriosis

“…reuteri cocultured with/without PKP were treated in acidic environment, and the density was examined in simulated gastric (pH = 1.2) and small intestine fluids (pH = 6.8) by incubation of L. reuteri in the corresponding medium for 0, 2, 4, and 6 h, respectively . To investigate the protective effect of PKP on cell density of L.…”

Effects of Dietary Limosilactobacillus fermentum and Lacticaseibacillus paracasei Supplementation on the Intestinal Stem Cell Proliferation, Immunity, and Ileal Microbiota of Broiler Chickens Challenged by Coccidia and Clostridium perfringens

“…Additionally, some strains increase the nutritional value of feed by production of vitamins, exopolysaccharides, and antioxidants [15,16]. A variety of probiotics have been found to exert essential functions for improving growth performance and intestinal health in broilers, mainly including Bacillus, Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, and Clostridium [16][17][18][19]. Among that, studies reported that Limosilactobacillus fermentum can alleviate intestinal villus damage and increase serum IgM level in broilers challenged with Salmonella [20], and relieve Campylobacter coli induced inflammatory response by suppressing the secretion of cytokines and modulating lymphocyte subpopulation levels [21].…”