Modulation of Caecal Microbiota and Metabolome Profile in Salmonella-Infected Broilers by Phage Therapy

Abstract

Bacteriophage therapy is considered one of the most promising tools to control zoonotic bacteria, such as Salmonella, in broiler production. Phages exhibit high specificity for their targeted bacterial hosts, causing minimal disruption to the niche microbiota. However, data on the gut environment’s response to phage therapy in poultry are limited. This study investigated the influence of Salmonella phage on host physiology through caecal microbiota and metabolome modulation using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing and an untargeted metabolomics approach. We employed 24 caecum content samples and 24 blood serum samples from 4-, 5- and 6-week-old broilers from a previous study where Salmonella phages were administered via feed in Salmonella-infected broilers, which were individually weighed weekly. Phage therapy did not affect the alpha or beta diversity of the microbiota. Specifically, we observed changes in the relative abundance of 14 out of the 110 genera using the PLS-DA and Bayes approaches. On the other hand, we noted changes in the caecal metabolites (63 up-accumulated and 37 down-accumulated out of the 1113 caecal metabolites). Nevertheless, the minimal changes in blood serum suggest a non-significant physiological response. The application of Salmonella phages under production conditions modulates the caecal microbiome and metabolome profiles in broilers without impacting the host physiology in terms of growth performance.

Phage P2-71 against multi-drug resistant Proteus mirabilis: isolation, characterization, and non-antibiotic antimicrobial potential

“…Phage therapy, as an emerging antimicrobial strategy, has shown immense potential. Phages are highly specific, targeting only particular bacterial hosts, thereby minimizing disruption to the beneficial microbiota in the human body ( Lorenzo-Rebenaque et al., 2023 ), and reducing the development of antibiotic resistance. In this study, we isolated phage P2-71 from the feces of stray dogs, which targets the canine-sourced MDR P. mirabilis .…”

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

“…The reference variable was chosen as the one with the lowest coefficient of variation: Cellulosilyticum for wall samples, p-2534-18B5_gut_group for slat samples, and Dojkabacteria for slurry samples. The lack of isometry was checked using Procrustes correlation ( 27 ). ALRs were autoscaled with mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.…”