Long-Term Grow-Out Affects Campylobacter jejuni Colonization Fitness in Coincidence With Altered Microbiota and Lipid Composition in the Cecum of Laying Hens

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the leading causes of gastrointestinal illness worldwide and is mainly transmitted from chicken through the food chain. Previous studies have provided increasing evidence that this pathogen can colonize and replicate in broiler chicken during its breeding; however, its temporal kinetics in laying hen are poorly understood. Considering the possible interaction between C. jejuni and gut microbiota, the current study was conducted to address the temporal dynamics of C. jejuni in the cecum of laying hen over 40 weeks, with possible alteration of the gut microbiota and fatty acid (FA) components. Following oral infection with C. jejuni 81-176, inocula were stably recovered from ceca for up to 8 weeks post-infection (p.i.). From 16 weeks p.i., most birds became negative for C. jejuni and remained negative up to 40 weeks p.i. 16S rRNA gene sequencing analyses revealed that most of the altered relative rRNA gene abundances occurred in the order Clostridiales, in which increased relative rRNA gene abundances were observed at >16 weeks p.i. in the families Clostridiaceae, Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Peptococcaceae. Lipidome analyses revealed increased levels of sterols associated with bile acid metabolisms in the cecum at 16 and/or 24 weeks p.i. compared with those detected at 8 weeks p.i., suggesting that altered microbiota and bile acid metabolism might underlie the decreased colonization fitness of C. jejuni in the gut of laying hens.

The active core microbiota of two high-yielding laying hen breeds fed with different levels of calcium and phosphorus

“…Uncl. Fusicatenibacter belongs to the family Lachnospiraceae and was previously associated with host GIT health (Biddle et al, 2013), and detected in the ileum and caeca of laying hens (van der Eijk et al, 2019) with a constant presence from day 1 to week 40 (Asakura et al, 2021). A recent study, using metagenomic analysis, showed several protologues for new candidatus Fusicatenibacter (Gilroy et al, 2021), this bacterial group was more abundant in crop and might be involved in the first steps of feed digestion together with M. funiformis.…”

Campylobacter spp. in Eggs and Laying Hens in the North-East of Tunisia: High Prevalence and Multidrug-Resistance Phenotypes

“…Nevertheless, the temporal dynamics of Campylobacter spp. colonization in laying hens is not yet well-understood [ 32 ]. When comparing our result (43%) with other reports, it was higher than those reported in Greece (13.3%) [ 33 ] and Australia (11%) [ 17 ], but lower than those observed in Finland (86%) [ 34 ], Italy (65%) [ 35 ], and Sri Lanka (64%) [ 36 ].…”

Luminal and mucosa-associated caecal microbiota of chickens after experimental Campylobacter jejuni infection in the absence of Campylobacter-specific phages of group II and III

“…This occurred at the same time when most laying hens became negative and remained negative for C. jejuni [50]. The role of bacterial members of the family Ruminococcaceae within the intestinal microbiota of chickens was reviewed by Rychlik [42].…”

“…Only 16 weeks after oral infection with C. jejuni , the Ruminococcaceae family exhibited an increased relative abundance that plateaued and thus was stably present within the caecal microbiota [50]. This occurred at the same time when most laying hens became negative and remained negative for C.…”