Measuring the impact of dietary supplementation with citrus or cucumber extract on chicken gut microbiota using 16s rRNA gene sequencing.

This study investigated the effects of dietary supplements, citrus (CTS) and cucumber (CMB), on the jejunum and cecum microbiota of 14- and 28-days old broiler chickens to evaluate their impact on the gut health and assess their role as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (ABGPs). 16SrRNA gene sequencing revealed the overall bacterial microbiota composition was significantly affected by the gut site (p?

A normative microbiome is not restored following kidney transplantation.

Dialysis and kidney transplantation (Ktx) mitigate some of the physiological deficits in chronic kidney disease (CKD), but it remains to be determined if these mitigate microbial dysbiosis and the production of inflammatory microbial metabolites, which contribute significantly to the uraemic phenotype. We have investigated bacterial DNA signatures present in the circulation of CKD patients and those receiving a KTx. Our data are consistent with increasing dysbiosis as CKD progresses, with an accompanying increase in trimethylamine (TMA) producing pathobionts Pseudomonas and Bacillus. Notably, KTx patients displayed a significantly different microbiota compared with CKD5 patients, which surprisingly included further increase in TMA producing Bacillus and loss of salutogenic Lactobacilli. Only two genera (Viellonella and Saccharimonidales) showed significant differences in abundance following KTx that may reflect a reciprocal relationship between TMA producers and utilisers, which supersedes restoration of a normative microbiome. Our metadata analysis confirmed that TMA N-oxide (TMAO) along with one carbon metabolism had significant impact upon both inflammatory burden and the composition of the microbiome. This indicates that these metabolites are key to shaping the uraemic microbiome and might be exploited in the development of dietary intervention strategies to both mitigate the physiological deficits in CKD and enable the restoration of a more salutogenic microbiome.

A study comparing the healthy and diseased equine glandular gastric microbiota sampled with sheathed transendoscopic cytology brushes.

The role of the equine gastrointestinal microbiota in the pathogenesis of equine glandular gastric disease (EGGD) is poorly understood. To investigate whether the glandular gastric microbiota is altered in horses with EGGD. Prospective longitudinal study. Five Thoroughbred racehorses from one training center underwent gastroscopy as part of poor performance investigation. Samples were taken from EGGD lesions and adjacent normal mucosa using sheathed transendoscopic cytology brushes and frozen at -80°C. DNA was extracted for 16S rRNA sequencing, and sequences compared against a database to generate taxonomic classification of the microbiota. The same horses were sampled 6 months later. Normal glandular mucosal samples were characterized by a higher proportion of Proteobacteria (46.3%) than EGGD lesions (18.9%). Relative abundance of Firmicutes was lower in samples from normal mucosa (20.0%) than EGGD lesions (41.2%). Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) confirmed a greater proportion of Firmicutes species was characteristic of samples collected from EGGD lesions due to a very high relative abundance of Sarcina (up to 92.4%) in two horses with EGGD. We were unable to comment on the stability of the glandular gastric microbiota over time. Small sample population. None of the horses examined had grossly normal gastric mucosa. The gastric microbiota appears altered in EGGD, although we are unable to demonstrate a causative effect. Sarcina was particularly increased in abundance in EGGD and may be a useful biomarker of disease. Sheathed cytology brushes were an effective method for sampling the gastric mucosa.

Socioeconomic position links circulatory microbiota differences with biological age.

Imbalanced nutrition is associated with accelerated ageing, possibly mediated by microbiota. An analysis of the circulatory microbiota obtained from the leukocytes of participants in the MRC Twenty-07 general population cohort was performed. We now report that in this cohort, the most biologically aged exhibit a significantly higher abundance of circulatory pathogenic bacteria, including Neisseria, Rothia and Porphyromonas, while those less biologically aged possess more circulatory salutogenic (defined as being supportive of human health and wellbeing) bacteria, including Lactobacillus, Lachnospiraceae UCG-004 and Kocuria. The presence of these salutogenic bactreria is consistent with a capacity to metabolise and produce Nrf2 agonists. We also demonstrate that associated one carbon metabolism, notably betaine levels, did not vary with chronological age, but displayed a difference with socioeconomic position (SEP). Those at lower SEP possessed significantly lower betaine levels indicative of a poorer diet and poorer health span and consistent with reduced global DNA methylation levels in this group. Our data suggest a clear route to improving age related health and resilience based on dietary modulation of the microbiota.

Pattern recognition molecules and innate immunity to parasites.

Recent pioneering advances in understanding how plants, insects and worms eliminate pathogens has led to the realization that innate immunity plays a vital role in protecting humans from infection. This comprehensive review examines the molecules involved in innate immune responses, how they act to control parasites and if their engagement can explain many immune features characteristic of parasitic infections.

Novel antimalarial antibodies highlight the importance of the antibody Fc region in mediating protection.

Parasite drug resistance and difficulties in developing effective vaccines have precipitated the search for alternative therapies for malaria. The success of passive immunization suggests that immunoglobulin (Ig)-based therapies are effective. To further explore the mechanism(s) by which antibody mediates its protective effect, we generated human chimeric IgG1 and IgA1 and a single-chain diabody specific for the C-terminal 19-kDa region of Plasmodium yoelii merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP119), a major target of protective immune responses. These novel human reagents triggered in vitro phagocytosis of merozoites but, unlike their parental mouse IgG2b, failed to protect against parasite challenge in vivo. Therefore, the Fc region appears critical for mediating protection in vivo, at least for this MSP119 epitope. Such antibodies may serve as prototype therapeutic agents, and as useful tools in the development of in vitro neutralization assays with Plasmodium parasites.