Fecal microbiota transplantation in gestating sows and neonatal offspring alters lifetime intestinal microbiota and growth in Offspring

McCormack, Ursula M. and Curião, Tânia and Wilkinson, Toby and Metzler-Zebeli, Barbara U. and Reyer, Henry and Ryan, Tomas and Calderon-Diaz, Julia A. and Crispie, Fiona and Cotter, Paul D. and Creevey, Christopher J. and Gardiner, Gillian E. and Lawlor, Peadar G. (2018) Fecal microbiota transplantation in gestating sows and neonatal offspring alters lifetime intestinal microbiota and growth in Offspring. mSystems, 3 (3). ISSN 2379-5077

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Abstract

Previous studies suggest a link between intestinal microbiota and porcine feed efficiency (FE). Therefore, we investigated whether fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in sows and/or neonatal offspring, using inocula derived from highly feed-efficient pigs, could improve offspring FE. Pregnant sows were assigned to control or FMT treatments and the subsequent offspring to control treatment, FMT once (at birth), or FMT four times (between birth and weaning). FMT altered sow fecal and colostrum microbiota compositions and resulted in lighter offspring body weight at 70 and 155 days of age when administered to sows and/or offspring. This was accompanied by FMT-associated changes within the offspring's intestinal microbiota, mostly in the ileum. These included transiently higher fecal bacterial diversity and load and numerous compositional differences at the phylum and genus levels (e.g., Spirochaetes and Bacteroidetes at high relative abundances and mostly members of Clostridia, respectively), as well as differences in the abundances of predicted bacterial pathways. In addition, intestinal morphology was negatively impacted, duodenal gene expression altered, and serum protein and cholesterol concentrations reduced due to FMT in sows and/or offspring. Taken together, the results suggest poorer absorptive capacity and intestinal health, most likely explaining the reduced body weight. An additive effect of FMT in sows and offspring also occurred for some parameters. Although these findings have negative implications for the practical use of the FMT regime used here for improving FE in pigs, they nonetheless demonstrate the enormous impact of early-life intestinal microbiota on the host phenotype. IMPORTANCE Here, for the first time, we investigate FMT as a novel strategy to modulate the porcine intestinal microbiota in an attempt to improve FE in pigs. However, reprogramming the maternal and/or offspring microbiome by using fecal transplants derived from highly feed-efficient pigs did not recapitulate the highly efficient phenotype in the offspring and, in fact, had detrimental effects on lifetime growth. Although these findings may not be wholly attributable to microbiota transplantation, as antibiotic and purgative were also part of the regime in sows, similar effects were also seen in offspring, in which these interventions were not used. Nonetheless, additional work is needed to unravel the effects of each component of the FMT regime and to provide additional mechanistic insights. This may lead to the development of an FMT procedure with practical applications for the improvement of FE in pigs, which could in turn improve the profitability of pig production.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding Information: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (ECO-FCE project no. 311794) for research, technological development, and demonstration independently of any commercial input, financial or otherwise. U.M.M. was funded by the Teagasc Walsh fellowship programme. Funding Information: aTeagasc, Pig Development Department, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland bDepartment of Science, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland cAnimal and Microbial Sciences, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom dInstitute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, University Clinic for Swine, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria eLeibeniz institute (FBN), Dummerstorf, Germany fDepartment of Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzębiec, Magdalenka, Poland gTeagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland hAPC Microbiome Institute, Cork, Ireland Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Ward et al.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2400/2404
Departments or Groups:
Depositing User:	Admin SSL
Date Deposited:	19 Oct 2022 23:06
Last Modified:	10 Aug 2023 07:25
URI:	http://repository-testing.wit.ie/id/eprint/4032

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