Tort-Miró Carla, Lorenzo-Rebenaque Laura, Montoro-Dasi Laura, Vega Santiago, Rodríguez Juan Carlos, Ventero María-Paz, Pérez-Gracia Maria Teresa, Guitart-Matas Judith, Giler-Baquerizo Noemí, Marco-Fuertes Ana, D'Auria Giuseppe, Marin Clara, Migura-Garcia Lourdes
Animal Health Program (CReSA), Collaborating Centre of the World Organization for Animal Health for Research and Control of Emerging and Re-emerging Pig Diseases in Europe, Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA-CReSA), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Catalonia, 08193, Spain.
Unitat mixta d'Investigació IRTA-UAB en Sanitat Animal. Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Catalonia, 08193, Spain.
BMC Vet Res. 2025 Apr 4;21(1):246. doi: 10.1186/s12917-025-04693-0.
Antibiotics are used in animal husbandry to control infectious diseases. Different stressors can compromise animal health, leaving piglets vulnerable to pathogens, especially enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), which causes post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD), the major source of mortality and morbidity in swine production. Furthermore, PWD is a recurrent disease for certain farms, suggesting a link between gut microbial composition and animal health. The aim of this study was to identify the intestinal microbiota of pigs on farms with high health status (HHS) and low health status (LHS) to determine the relationships between sanitary status and gut health. Therefore, three pig farms with LHS presenting recurrent problems of PWD and three farms with HHS were selected to characterise the intestinal microbiome of sows and their piglets. 16 S rRNA gene sequencing technology was used to determine the associations of the gut microbiome with health. With the aim of bringing the MinION Nanopore device to the field for its portability and taxonomic resolution, the results obtained with Illumina were compared to those obtained with Nanopore.
Overall, the results indicated remarkable differences in intestinal microbial communities between animals from LHS farms and those from HHS farms, suggesting that the microbiomes of LHS animals were enriched with potential pathogenic microorganisms, mainly from the Pseudomonadota phylum, such as the genus Escherichia-Shigella, and their associated related species. Moreover, animals from HHS were enriched with beneficial microorganisms, such as Lactobacillus spp., Christensenellaceae R7 group, Treponema, Acetitomaculum and Oscillospiraceae UCG-005.
This study identifies potential microorganisms that may contribute to health and disease in pig farms with HHS and LHS, suggesting that tracking their occurrence might provide insight into sanitary conditions. Moreover, this research highlights the compatibility between Illumina and Nanopore sequencing platforms, justifying the use of MinION Nanopore device in field applications for in situ studies of PWD. This application has the potential to enhance sustainable economic growth in swine farms by enabling more effective monitoring and management of animal health.
抗生素用于畜牧业以控制传染病。不同的应激源会损害动物健康，使仔猪易受病原体感染，尤其是产肠毒素大肠杆菌（ETEC），它会导致断奶后腹泻（PWD），这是养猪生产中死亡率和发病率的主要来源。此外，PWD在某些猪场是一种复发性疾病，这表明肠道微生物组成与动物健康之间存在联系。本研究的目的是鉴定健康状况高（HHS）和健康状况低（LHS）的猪场中猪的肠道微生物群，以确定卫生状况与肠道健康之间的关系。因此，选择了三个存在PWD复发问题的LHS猪场和三个HHS猪场来表征母猪及其仔猪的肠道微生物组。使用16S rRNA基因测序技术来确定肠道微生物组与健康的关联。为了将MinION纳米孔设备因其便携性和分类分辨率带到现场，将Illumina获得的结果与纳米孔获得的结果进行了比较。
总体而言，结果表明LHS猪场的动物与HHS猪场的动物之间肠道微生物群落存在显著差异，这表明LHS动物的微生物组富含潜在致病微生物，主要来自假单胞菌门，如埃希氏菌属-志贺氏菌属及其相关物种。此外，HHS的动物富含有益微生物，如乳杆菌属、克里斯滕森菌科R7组、密螺旋体属、醋杆菌属和颤螺菌科UCG-005。
本研究确定了可能对HHS和LHS猪场的健康和疾病有影响的潜在微生物，表明追踪它们的出现情况可能有助于了解卫生状况。此外，本研究突出了Illumina和纳米孔测序平台之间的兼容性，证明了在现场应用中使用MinION纳米孔设备对PWD进行原位研究的合理性。这种应用有可能通过更有效地监测和管理动物健康来促进养猪场的可持续经济增长。
