Differences in the intestinal microbiota between uninfected piglets and piglets infected with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus

Abstract

Porcine epidemic diarrhea, a disastrous gastrointestinal disease, causes great financial losses due to its high infectivity, morbidity and mortality in suckling piglets despite the development and application of various vaccines. In this study, high-throughput sequencing was used to explore differences in the intestinal microbiota between uninfected piglets and piglets infected with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). The results revealed that the small intestinal microbiota of suckling piglets infected with PEDV showed low diversity and was dominated by Proteobacteria (49.1%). Additionally, the composition of the small intestinal microbiota of sucking piglets infected with PEDV showed marked differences from that of the uninfected piglets. Some of the taxa showing differences in abundance between uninfected piglets and piglets infected with PEDV were associated with cellular transport and catabolism, energy metabolism, the biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites, and amino acid metabolism as determined through the prediction of microbial function based on the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Therefore, adjusting the intestinal microbiota might be a promising method for the prevention or treatment of PEDV.

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Altered Colonic Microbiota Communities in Suckling Piglets

“…This sensitivity may generate individual differences in microorganisms, even in piglets from the same cohort [35]. Here, we found that PEDV infection significantly altered the gut microbiota in piglets, an outcome that was confirmed in several other studies [20][21][22][23].…”

“…Likewise, previous research has shown that the proportions of Escherichia-Shigella, Enterococcus, Fusobacterium, and Veillonella increased significantly in PEDV-infected piglets, while those of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria (e.g., Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group, Butyricimonas, and Alistipes) underwent a decrease [21]. Moreover, the gut microbiota of PEDV-infected piglets was shown to exhibit significant changes at the genus and phylum levels [22] that are likely to disrupt microecological homeostasis.…”

“…SCFAs are rapidly absorbed by colonic epithelial cells [15], protect the host against colonic diseases, exhibit anti-inflammatory effects, and promote energy intake by intestinal fibers [45,46]. Thus, SCFA-producing bacteria contribute to carbohydrate fermentation, mucosal defense mechanisms, adipogenesis, and lipid oxidation [22,43]. Decreased Bacteroides abundance can result in reduced SCFA concentrations among PEDV-infected piglets, a link that could compromise intestinal and immune homeostasis.…”

“…The timely treatment of PEDV-induced diarrhea and vomiting can effectively reduce mortality in newborn piglets [2]. Many previous researches [1,[21][22][23] linking specific bacteria to healthy versus infected piglets suggests that regulating intestinal microbiota is a promising method for PED treatment. Indeed, gut microbiota have been successfully used to prevent diarrhea [47].…”

Porcine deltacoronavirus infection alters bacterial communities in the colon and feces of neonatal piglets

“…In pigs, several studies have reported that there exists a close relationship between diarrhea-relating coronaviruses and intestinal microbiota (Huang et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2015;Song et al, 2017;Tan et al, 2019). It has been reported that PEDV infection induced gut microbial dysbiosis, leading to a reduction in beneficial bacteria and an increase in pathogenic bacteria.…”