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Understanding Intestinal Microbiota in Equine Grass Sickness: Next Generation Sequencing of Faecal Bacterial DNA
Author(s) -
Leng J.,
Proudman C.,
Blow F.,
Darby A.,
Swann J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.1111/evj.12486_19
Subject(s) - bacteroidetes , microbiome , firmicutes , biology , dysbiosis , feces , metagenomics , 16s ribosomal rna , dna extraction , microbiology and biotechnology , horse , bacterial phyla , veterinary medicine , polymerase chain reaction , bacteria , genetics , gene , medicine , paleontology
Reasons for performing study The bacteria C lostridium botulinum has been associated with equine grass sickness ( EGS ); however, the effect on the wider horse's gut microbiome is currently unknown. Objectives To characterise the bacterial dysbiosis that occurs within the gut microbiome of horses with EGS and to identify and quantify C lostridium botulinum within the faecal microbiota of the affected horses. Study design Case–control study. Methods Faecal samples were collected from horses with a histological diagnosis of EGS and matched controls. Faecal bacterial DNA was extracted and sequenced to characterise the microbial communities in the group. Faecal samples were collected from a total of 33 horses over 2 years. This included 13 EGS cases, 14 matched controls and 6 hospital controls. Faecal bacterial DNA was extracted from samples and the v4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified. DNA was sequenced on the MiSeq platform and data was analysed using QIIME . Differences in community profile between the 3 groups of horses were identified using linear discriminant analysis effect size ( LEfS e) method. Results There was a significant increase in Bacteroidetes and a decrease in Firmicutes bacteria in horses with EGS compared to the 2 control groups. Discriminant analysis identified bacterial genera D esulphovibrio and V eillonella and the bacterial species V eillonella parvula as increased in abundance. There was no noticeable increase in C . botulinum in the faecal microbiome of EGS horses in this study. Conclusions The dysbiosis characterised by bacterial sequencing showed a similar shift to that identified previously in colitis horses and human inflammatory bowel disease. It is currently unclear how V errucomicrobia bacteria are linked to grass sickness. Ethical animal research: The study was approved by The University of Liverpool ethics committee. Owner informed consent was obtained before sampling. Sources of funding: The Equine Grass Sickness Fund and The University of R eading. Competing interests: None declared.