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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Food Safety and Enteric Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #224603
Title: BACTERIA CORRELATED WITH SUPPRESSION AND FACILITATION OF CAMPYLOBACTER COLONIZATION OF POULTRY

Author
item Scupham, Alexandra
item RETTEDAL, ELIZABETH - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/7/2008
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Objectives of these studies were to identify microbes associated with exclusion of the food borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni from the poultry intestine. Day-old turkeys were inoculated with cecal contents from a C. jejuni- free adult and housed in isolation chambers. Each group was treated with an antibiotic to select for unique subpopulations. After community selection, the birds were challenged with C. jejuni. Oligonucleotide fingerprinting of rRNA genes (OFRG) was used to identify the intestinal taxa present in each treatment and cluster analysis was used to identify groups that correlated with colonization resistance and susceptibility. Campylobacter plate counts indicated that compared to the untreated control group harboring 2.5 x 10^7 cfu/g of C. jejuni in the ceca, the virginiamycin treated group facilitated colonization and harbored 1 x 10^9 cfu/g while enrofloxacin, neomycin, and vancomycin groups inhibited colonization and held 6 x 10^6, 3 x 10^5, and < 10^3 cfu/g, respectively. Cluster analysis indicated that a group of Bacteroides with 99% 16S sequence similarity to strain Smarlab3301643 was correlated with Campylobacter colonization enhancement while the presence of Megamonas hypermegale in the intestine correlated with colonization resistance. Further examination of the roles of these microbes will address basic needs for Campylobacter survival in the intestinal ecosystem and suggest mechanisms for exclusion of the pathogen. This study identified putative species that inhibit C. jejuni colonization of the intestine, and these methods can be used to describe constituents of the microbiota that perform desired functions relating to other facets of animal health.