Evolution of Pig Fecal Microbiota Composition and Diversity in Response to Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Infection and Colistin Treatment in Weaned Piglets

Abstract

The intestinal microbiota plays several important roles in pig health and growth. The aim of the current study was to characterize the changes in the fecal microbiota diversity and composition of weaned piglets following an oral challenge with an ETEC: F4 strain and/or a treatment with colistin sulfate (CS). Twenty-eight piglets were used in this experiment and were divided into four groups: challenged untreated, challenged treated, unchallenged treated, and unchallenged untreated. Rectal swab samples were collected at five sampling times throughout the study. Total genomic DNA was used to assess the fecal microbiota diversity and composition using the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. The relative abundance, the composition, and the community structure of piglet fecal microbiota was highly affected by the ETEC: F4 challenge throughout the experiment, while the oral treatment with CS, a narrow spectrum antibiotic, resulted in a significant decrease of E. coli/Shigella populations during the treatment period only. This study was the first to identify some gut microbiota subgroups (e.g., Streptococcus, Lachnospiraceae) that are associated with healthy piglets as compared to ETEC: F4 challenged animals. These key findings might contribute to the development of alternative strategies to reduce the use of antimicrobials in the control of post-weaning diarrhea in pigs.

Effects of glucose oxidase on growth performance, clinical symptoms, serum parameters, and intestinal health in piglets challenged by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

“…Gut microbiota is known as a regulator of intestinal health and growth performance of pigs ( Qi et al, 2021 ). Similar to a previous study ( Rhouma et al, 2021 ), this study showed that the ETEC challenge caused gut microbiota dysbiosis of piglets, as evidenced by obvious changes in β-diversity and bacterial proportions of gut microbiota, however, these changes were largely reversed by GOD addition. Among the bacteria changed by GOD addition, Fusobacterium spp.…”

Coated Zinc Oxide Improves Growth Performance of Weaned Piglets via Gut Microbiota

“…In accordance with the positive effect of C_ZnO on gut flora, the increased concentration of acetate and propionate also confirmed a more harmonious intestinal environment. Streptococcus had been found to be correlated with piglet body weight and commonly related to the healthy structure of microbiota (39,40) in accordance with the improved growth performance in the group. Interestingly, our results also found Streptococcus was gathered in the colonic lumen in the CON group to some extent, rather than ileal lumen.…”

Trace amounts of antibiotic altered metabolomic and microbial profiles of weaned pigs infected with a pathogenic E. coli

“…Thus, Lachnospiraceae and Lactobacillaceae have been proposed and investigated as biomarkers to predict the health status of pigs [ 57 , 58 ]. Rhouma et al [ 59 ] demonstrated that the ETEC F4 challenge suppressed the relative abundance of Lachnospiraceae and Lactobacillaceae in fecal contents of pigs, compared with unchallenged pigs. In addition, Dou et al [ 60 ] also reported that diarrheic pigs, in natural post-weaning diarrhea, had a lower abundance of Lachnospiraceae and Lactobacillaceae in feces, compared with healthy pigs.…”