Differential Effects of Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (BMD) on the Distal Colon and Cecal Microbiota of Young Broiler Chickens

Antibiotics have been used extensively for growth promotion in poultry, along with other food production animals, as well as therapeutically to treat infectious diseases. However, with concerns over selection for drug antibiotic resistant bacteria the practice of using subtherapeutic doses of antibi...

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Main Authors: Alexandra Proctor, Gregory J. Phillips
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-04-01
Series:Frontiers in Veterinary Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2019.00114/full
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author Alexandra Proctor
Gregory J. Phillips
author_facet Alexandra Proctor
Gregory J. Phillips
author_sort Alexandra Proctor
collection DOAJ
description Antibiotics have been used extensively for growth promotion in poultry, along with other food production animals, as well as therapeutically to treat infectious diseases. However, with concerns over selection for drug antibiotic resistant bacteria the practice of using subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics is under increased scrutiny. Consequently, we assessed the impact of the commonly used antibiotic bacitracin methylene disalicylate (BMD) on the gastrointestinal microbiota of chickens. For this we administered therapeutic doses of BMD as a feed additive and 16s rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to measure changes in taxonomic abundance on the distal colon and cecal microbiota of young broiler chickens. While BMD treatment was found to impact the abundance of selected taxa and overall beta diversity, significant changes were, in general, limited to the colon of the treated birds. Selected taxa at the phylum, class, and genus levels that were most impacted were identified. The composition of the cecum remained relatively stable in BMD-treated animals. As poultry production practices seek alternatives to growth promoting antibiotic feed additives, manipulation of the gastrointestinal microbiota holds promise. These results suggest that targeting the cecum may offer a means to promote changes to the microbiota that maximize the benefits for the hosts.
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spelling doaj.art-6f55f71f79704d3092bb9781b77854222022-12-22T03:12:37ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Veterinary Science2297-17692019-04-01610.3389/fvets.2019.00114423401Differential Effects of Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (BMD) on the Distal Colon and Cecal Microbiota of Young Broiler ChickensAlexandra ProctorGregory J. PhillipsAntibiotics have been used extensively for growth promotion in poultry, along with other food production animals, as well as therapeutically to treat infectious diseases. However, with concerns over selection for drug antibiotic resistant bacteria the practice of using subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics is under increased scrutiny. Consequently, we assessed the impact of the commonly used antibiotic bacitracin methylene disalicylate (BMD) on the gastrointestinal microbiota of chickens. For this we administered therapeutic doses of BMD as a feed additive and 16s rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to measure changes in taxonomic abundance on the distal colon and cecal microbiota of young broiler chickens. While BMD treatment was found to impact the abundance of selected taxa and overall beta diversity, significant changes were, in general, limited to the colon of the treated birds. Selected taxa at the phylum, class, and genus levels that were most impacted were identified. The composition of the cecum remained relatively stable in BMD-treated animals. As poultry production practices seek alternatives to growth promoting antibiotic feed additives, manipulation of the gastrointestinal microbiota holds promise. These results suggest that targeting the cecum may offer a means to promote changes to the microbiota that maximize the benefits for the hosts.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2019.00114/fullpoultrymicrobiotaantibiotic16S rRNAgrowth promoting antibiotics
spellingShingle Alexandra Proctor
Gregory J. Phillips
Differential Effects of Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (BMD) on the Distal Colon and Cecal Microbiota of Young Broiler Chickens
Frontiers in Veterinary Science
poultry
microbiota
antibiotic
16S rRNA
growth promoting antibiotics
title Differential Effects of Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (BMD) on the Distal Colon and Cecal Microbiota of Young Broiler Chickens
title_full Differential Effects of Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (BMD) on the Distal Colon and Cecal Microbiota of Young Broiler Chickens
title_fullStr Differential Effects of Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (BMD) on the Distal Colon and Cecal Microbiota of Young Broiler Chickens
title_full_unstemmed Differential Effects of Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (BMD) on the Distal Colon and Cecal Microbiota of Young Broiler Chickens
title_short Differential Effects of Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (BMD) on the Distal Colon and Cecal Microbiota of Young Broiler Chickens
title_sort differential effects of bacitracin methylene disalicylate bmd on the distal colon and cecal microbiota of young broiler chickens
topic poultry
microbiota
antibiotic
16S rRNA
growth promoting antibiotics
url https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2019.00114/full
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