Utilizing the fecal microbiota to understand foal gut transitions from birth to weaning

A healthy gastrointestinal (GI) tract with a properly established microbiota is necessary for a foal to develop into a healthy weanling. A foal's health can be critically impacted by aberrations in the microbiome such as with diarrhea which can cause great morbidity and mortality in foals. In t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 14; no. 4; p. e0216211
Main Authors:	De La Torre, Ubaldo, Henderson, John D, Furtado, Kathleen L, Pedroja, Madeleine, Elenamarie, O'Malley, Mora, Anthony, Pechanec, Monica Y, Maga, Elizabeth A, Mienaltowski, Michael J
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 30-04-2019 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Age Animal sciences Animals Animals, Newborn Bacteria Bacteria - growth & development Bacterial genetics Biodiversity Biology and Life Sciences Birth Change detection Composition Deoxyribonucleic acid Diarrhea Diet Digestive system Digestive tract DNA Farms Fecal microflora Feces Feces - microbiology Foals Forage Gastrointestinal system Gastrointestinal tract Gastrointestinal Tract - microbiology Gene sequencing Genes Genetic aspects Health Health aspects Health care High-throughput screening (Biochemical assaying) Horses Horses - microbiology Juveniles Management techniques Medicine and Health Sciences Metagenomics Methods Microbiomes Microbiota Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms) Microorganisms Milk Morbidity Next-generation sequencing Nutrition research Pasture Phylogeny Polymerase chain reaction Populations Principal Component Analysis Relative abundance RNA rRNA 16S Weaning Zoology United States > US California
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Summary:	A healthy gastrointestinal (GI) tract with a properly established microbiota is necessary for a foal to develop into a healthy weanling. A foal's health can be critically impacted by aberrations in the microbiome such as with diarrhea which can cause great morbidity and mortality in foals. In this study, we hypothesized that gut establishment in the foal transitioning from a diet of milk to a diet of grain, forage, and pasture would be detectable through analyses of the fecal microbiotas. Fecal samples from 37 sets of foals and mares were collected at multiple time points ranging from birth to weaning. Bacterial DNA was isolated from the samples, and the V4 domain of bacterial 16S rRNA genes were amplified via polymerase chain reaction. Next generation sequencing was then performed on the resulting amplicons, and analyses were performed to characterize the microbiome as well as the relative abundance of microbiota present. We found that bacterial population compositions followed a pattern throughout the early life of the foal in an age-dependent manner. As foals transitioned from milk consumption to a forage and grain diet, there were recognizable changes in fecal microbial compositions from initial populations predominant in the ability to metabolize milk to populations capable of utilizing fibrous plant material. We were also able to recognize differences in microbial populations amongst diarrheic foals as well as microbial population differences associated with differences in management styles between facilities. Future efforts will gauge the effects of lesser abundant bacterial populations that could also be essential to GI health, as well as to determine how associations between microbial population profiles and animal management practices can be used to inform strategies for improving upon the health and growth of horses overall.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0216211