Metabolic Footprint of and Reveals Potential Interaction Towards Community Succession and Pathogenesis in Bovine Digital Dermatitis.

Bovine digital dermatitis (BDD) is a cattle infection causing hoof lesions and lameness, with treponemes as key pathogens. We analyzed the metabolic activity of and using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for organic acids (OAs), amino acids (AAs), and fatty acids (FAs), and high-performance liquid chromatography for short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Key findings include a 61.5% reduction in pyruvic acid in and 81.0% in . 2-hydroxybutyric acid increased by 493.8% in , while succinic acid increased by 31.3%, potentially supporting . Among AAs, glycine was reduced by 97.4% in but increased by 64.1% in . Proline increased by 76.6% in but decreased by 13.6% in . Methionine and glutamic acid were competitively utilized, with methionine reduced by 41.8% in and 11.9% in . Both species showed significant utilization of palmitic acid (reduced by 82.8% in and 87.2% in ). Butyric acid production increased by 620.2% in , and propionic acid increased by 932.8% in and 395.6% in . These reveal metabolic interactions between the pathogens, contributing to disease progression and offering insights to BDD pathogenesis.