Intestinal Microbial Dysbiosis in Beagles Naturally Infected with Canine Parvovirus

Abstract

Canine parvoviral enteritis (PVE) is an important intestinal disease of the puppies; however, the potential impact of the canine parvovirus (CPV) on the gut microbiota has not been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the gut microbial shifts in puppies naturally infected with CPV. Fecal samples were collected from healthy dogs and those diagnosed with PVE at 4, 6, 8, and 12 weeks of age. The distal gut microbiota of dogs was characterized using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA genes. The sequence data were analyzed using QIIME with an Operational Taxonomic Unit definition at a similarity cutoff of 97%. Our results showed that the CPV was associated with significant microbial dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota. Alpha diversity and species richness and evenness in dogs with PVE decreased compared to those of healthy dogs. At the phylum level, the proportion of Proteobacteria was significantly enriched in dogs with PVE while Bacteroidetes was significantly more abundant in healthy dogs (p < 0.05). In dogs with PVE, Enterobacteriaceae was the most abundant bacterial family accounting for 36.44% of the total bacterial population compared to only 0.21% in healthy puppies. The two most abundant genera in healthy dogs were Prevotella and Lactobacillus and their abundance was significantly higher compared to that of dogs with PVE (p < 0.05). These observations suggest that disturbances of gut microbial communities were associated with PVE in young dogs. Evaluation of the roles of these bacterial groups in the pathophysiology of PVE warrants further studies.

Age and Giardia intestinalis Infection Impact Canine Gut Microbiota

“…Although the predominant phyla identified are similar to previous observations in healthy dogs, proportions vary among studies [ 57 , 58 , 59 ]. The canine breed, environmental conditions, age, weight, infections, sequencing technologies, and sequencing depth are responsible for significant variations reported for gut microbiota composition [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Here, there were more pronounced differences in the composition of fecal microbiota among 9-week-old puppies (D−8) compared to 21-week-old puppies (D85).…”

“…In adult dogs, the microbiota is stable over the years. Similar to humans, the composition of the canine gut microbiota is affected by several factors such as diet [ 16 ], body weight [ 18 ], geographic location [ 19 ], genetics [ 20 ], age [ 21 , 22 ], and infections [ 17 , 23 ].…”

Effects of Zinc Source and Enzyme Addition on the Fecal Microbiota of Dogs

“…This agrees with a study in broilers, in which inorganic zinc (zinc oxide) promoted an increase of several genera belonging to the phylum Proteobacteria compared with organic zinc (amino acid chelate; De Grande et al, 2020 ). Although Proteobacteria are the third or fourth most abundant phylum in the gut of healthy dogs ( Suchodolski, 2016 ; Jha et al, 2020 ), a significant increase of this phylum was associated with dysbiosis by either infectious ( Park et al, 2019 ) or idiopathic inflammatory diseases ( Guard and Suchodolski, 2016 ). In the present study, there were no gastrointestinal clinical signs that could be related to dysbiosis, and the increase of Proteobacteria was far from the values reported in intestinal diseases.…”

Update on Canine Parvovirus Infection: A Review from the Literature

“…The parvovirus raided the crypt and remodeled the villi into blunted shape, and makes it unable to engross nutrients; thus, diarrhea results due to a reduction of new cells from the crypt and addresses the easy entry of bacteria causing widespread infection. The etiology of recurrent enteropathies in dogs is associated with Enterobacteriaceae (Proteobacteria phylum) (Cassmann et al, 2016;Park et al, 2019); belatedly, extreme fluid loss leads to bloody diarrhea and vomiting until shock and death .…”