Functional perspectives of host-microbiome interactions in poultry production: Where we are and where we need to go

Authors: Lyte, Joshua

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/23/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The poultry microbiome is the collection of bacteria that are found in the gut, on the skin, respiratory tract, and other areas of the bird. The microbiome plays many important roles in poultry resistance to foodborne pathogen carriage, performance, and other public health and economically significant traits. While there is much utility in the understanding of associations between microbiome and outcomes in poultry production, there is a need to identify functional relationships between individual members of the microbiome and poultry production that drive food safety and performance traits. The use of hypothesis-driven microbiome research can create evidence-based frameworks from which to launch translational microbiome studies that have rapid impact. This symposium addresses the need for more widespread use of function-driven hypotheses in poultry microbiome research in order to accelerate the development of microbiome applications for use in poultry production.

Technical Abstract: Over the last two decades, scientific interest in the poultry microbiome has skyrocketed with a role ascribed for the microbiome in virtually every aspect of poultry health and production. While substantial progress has been made in revealing important correlations that can be used as a roadmap to utility in a production setting, much remains to be understood in way of causality of the microbiome for the bird. In other words, correlation does not mean causality and we need to identify causal mechanisms if we are going to implement new microbiome-based modalities for improving poultry production. Therefore, the present symposium discusses the need for function-driven hypotheses that provide an evidence-based framework when approaching poultry microbiome research. Considering that the impact of stress on both bird and microbiome is well-appreciated across poultry species, pre-harvest stress will be taken as a prototypical example of where the use of function-driven hypotheses can help bridge basic to applied microbiome-based strategies to benefit poultry production. This will extend from areas of foodborne pathogen carriage to performance. To accomplish this, I will employ the emerging interdisciplinary field of Microbial Endocrinology as it represents the intersection of microbiology with neurophysiology. According to Microbial Endocrinology, stress-related neurochemicals can serve as mechanistic routes of host-microbe interaction, providing an evidence-based platform for identification of causal mechanistic relationships between microbial taxa and the host. By identifying these mechanistic routes, interventions can be designed to modulate these relationships to benefit the bird. While emphasis will be given towards the gut microbiome, discussion will also include less explored, but highly relevant, microbial communities including those in the respiratory tract and litter. The need for widespread adoption of best practices methodologies in microbiome experimental design will also be highlighted. In conclusion, it is anticipated that the cooperative use of directed hypotheses and the implementation of robust experimental design will accelerate the application of microbiome-based solutions in poultry production of which the use of Microbial Endocrinology will serve as a lens in this talk.