Department of Clinical Studies, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA.
J Vet Intern Med. 2023 Jan;37(1):315-322. doi: 10.1111/jvim.16596. Epub 2022 Dec 14.
The fecal bacterial microbiota of normal foals and foals with enterocolitis has been characterized using next-generation sequencing technology; however, there are no reports investigating the gut microbiota in foals hospitalized for other perinatal diseases.
To describe and compare the fecal bacterial microbiota in healthy and sick foals using next-generation sequencing techniques.
Hospitalized (17) and healthy foals (21).
Case-control study. Fecal samples were collected from healthy and sick foals on admission. Sick foals were further divided into sick nonseptic (SNS, n = 9) and septic (n = 8) foals. After extraction of DNA, the V4 region of the 16 S rRNA gene was amplified using a PCR assay, and the final product was sequenced with an Illumina MiSeq.
Diversity was significantly lower in healthy than sick foals (P < .05). The bacterial membership (Jaccard index) and structure (Yue & Clayton index) of the fecal microbiota of healthy, septic, and SNS foals were similar (AMOVA, P > .05). Bacterial membership (AMOVA, P = .06) and structure (AMOVA, P = .33) were not different between healthy and sick foals. Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcus, and Streptococcus were among the 5 more abundant taxa identified in both groups.
Higher fecal microbiota diversity in sick than healthy foals might suggest a high exposure to environmental microorganisms or an unstable colonic microbiota. The presence of microorganisms causing bacteremia in foals in a high relative abundance in the feces of foals suggests the intestine might play an essential role in the causation of bacteremia in foals.
应用下一代测序技术已对正常马驹和患肠结肠炎马驹的粪便细菌微生物群进行了特征描述；然而，尚无研究调查因其他围产期疾病住院的马驹肠道微生物群的报道。
应用下一代测序技术描述和比较健康和患病马驹的粪便细菌微生物群。
住院（17 只）和健康马驹（21 只）。
病例对照研究。在入院时采集健康和患病马驹的粪便样本。患病马驹进一步分为患病非脓毒症（SNS，n = 9）和脓毒症（n = 8）马驹。在提取 DNA 后，使用 PCR 扩增 16S rRNA 基因的 V4 区，最后使用 Illumina MiSeq 进行测序。
健康马驹的多样性显著低于患病马驹（P <.05）。健康、脓毒症和 SNS 马驹粪便微生物群的细菌组成（Jaccard 指数）和结构（Yue & Clayton 指数）相似（AMOVA，P >.05）。健康和患病马驹之间的细菌组成（AMOVA，P =.06）和结构（AMOVA，P =.33）无差异。肠杆菌科、肠球菌和链球菌是两组中丰度较高的 5 种细菌。
与健康马驹相比，患病马驹的粪便微生物多样性更高，这可能提示其暴露于环境微生物或结肠微生物群不稳定的风险更高。在粪便中发现引起马驹菌血症的微生物大量存在于马驹中，这表明肠道可能在马驹菌血症的发生中发挥重要作用。
