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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Egg and Poultry Production Safety Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #375627
Title: Fecal microbiota composition of a mother-infant dyad in a pig model.

Author
item JEON, JULIE - University Of Georgia
item FANG, XI - University Of Georgia
item LUORENCO, JEFERSON - University Of Georgia
item RAYALAM, SRUJANA - Philadelphia College Of Osteopathic Medicine
item Rothrock Jr, Michael
item CALLAWAY, TODD - University Of Georgia
item PARK, HEA JIN - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2020
Publication Date: 6/1/2020
Citation: Jeon, J., Fang, X., Luorenco, J., Rayalam, S., Rothrock Jr, M.J., Callaway, T.R., Park, H. 2020. Fecal microbiota composition of a mother-infant dyad in a pig model. Current Developments in Nutrition. 4(2):57-87

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Objectives: Microbial programming in early life is associated with gut health in adulthood. The establishment of the nascent gut microbiome is substantially influenced by the maternal nutrition and the native maternal microbiome. Swine is recognized as a valuable model for humans in gastrointestinal track research due to their remarkable similarity to humans in gastrointestinal anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, immunology and pathology. This study examined the characteristics of the gut microflora in the sow-piglet dyad. Methods: Fecal samples were collected from the sows (n = 6) and piglets (n = 24) at weaning. Bacterial DNA was isolated and the V3-V4 region of 16s rRNA gene was amplified and sequenced using the Illumina Miseq platform and analyzed by QIIME pipeline. Results: Sows have twice higher abundance of Firmicutes than piglets (84.28% vs 40.19%, P < 0.0001), although Firmicutes was the most abundant phyla in both sows and piglets. Instead, piglets had higher abundance of Bacteroidetes (36.41% vs 9.61%, P < 0.0001) and Proteobacteria (11.31% vs 0.87%, P = 0.005) than sows. Early colonization of Proteobacteria has been suggested to be important for neonatal immune development. Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio was higher in sows (16.32 % vs 1.36%, P < 0.0001), which is consistent with previous reports in humans. The five most abundant families in sows were Clostridiaceae (30.43%), Turicibacteraceae (17.13%), Ruminococcaceae (11.29%), Lactobacillaceae (8.27%), and Lachnospiraceae (4.99%), while those in piglets were Bacteroidaceae (23.96%), Lachnospiraceae (9.13%), Clostridiaceae (7.52%), Ruminococcaceae (6.80%), and Enterobacteriaceae (6.63%). Observed OTUs in sows were higher (P = 0.02) than those in piglets, suggesting that piglets at early stage of life has lower a-diversity in feces. Moreover, ß-diversity analysis showed significant different pattern of microbiota between sows and piglets (P = 0.01). Conclusion: Sows and piglets showed distinctive pattern of fecal microflora and piglets had low species numbers at weaning compared to that of sows. This finding will provide a valuable information for future transgenerational studies on gut microbiome and its consequences for health using sow-piglet dyad.