Open AccessDisruption in the cecal microbiota of chickens challenged with Clostridium perfringens and other factors was alleviated by Bacillus licheniformis supplementation
Author(s) -
Lin Yang,
Shengyu Xu,
Dong Zeng,
Xueqin Ni,
Mingmei Zhou,
Yan Zeng,
Hesong Wang,
Yi Zhou,
Hongxiang Zhu,
Kangcheng Pan,
Guangyao Li
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0182426
Subject(s) - clostridium perfringens , biology , bacillus licheniformis , microbiology and biotechnology , lactobacillus reuteri , bacteroides , clostridium , akkermansia , probiotic , lactobacillus , broiler , bacteria , food science , fermentation , bacillus subtilis , genetics
Clostridium perfringens can induce necrotic enteritis of chickens, which causes large economic losses every year. Bacillus licheniformis , a probiotic, can inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens , thereby improving the health status of chickens. However, from a microbial ecology perspective, the mechanisms by which alterations to the gut microbiota improve health remain unknown. In this study, we used Illumina MiSeq sequencing to investigate the cecal microbiota of a negative control group (NC), a C . perfringens and Eimeria challenge group with fishmeal supplementation (PC), a group supplemented with fishmeal and infected with coccidia (FC), and group PC with B . licheniformis supplementation (BL). We found that the health status of C . perfringens -challenged chickens was compromised, and that B . licheniformis improved the growth of the chickens challenged with pathogens. Microbial diversity analysis and taxonomic profiling of groups NC, PC, and FC revealed a disturbed cecal microflora of the birds with C . perfringens . We also characterized the microbiota of the chickens in the BL group using several methods. Principal coordinate analysis demonstrated that, compared with group PC, the bacterial community structure of group BL was more similar to that of group NC. Linear discriminant analysis with effect size revealed less differentially represented bacterial taxa between groups BL and NC than between groups PC and NC. In addition, groups BL and NC appeared to have similar overrepresented microbial taxa (such as Bacteroides , Helicobacter , Megamonas , and Akkermansia ) compared with group PC. Finally, a phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states analysis indicated that large differences existed between group PC and groups NC and BL. In conclusion, pre-treatment with B . licheniformis reduced the disturbance of the cecal microbiome induced by challenge with C . perfringens and other factors in broiler chickens.