Unexpected finding of Fusobacterium varium as the dominant Fusobacterium species in cattle rumen: potential implications for liver abscess etiology and interventions.

The conventional method of liver abscess prevention in feedlot cattle is in-feed use of tylosin to target Fusobacterium necrophorum, which has been presumed to be the most common Fusobacterium species within the ruminal compartment. Our investigation into ruminal Fusobacterium, however, revealed a different species, Fusobacterium varium, to be abundant and ubiquitous in ruminal content samples. Furthermore, growth conditions tailored to enrich F. necrophorum consistently promoted growth of F. varium, and the bovine isolates tested had much lower susceptibilities to the commonly fed antibiotics tylosin and monensin compared to F. necrophorum. Fusobacterium varium is an emerging pathogen in humans and preliminary genome sequencing of two ruminal F. varium isolates revealed genes linked to pathogenicity. While the ecological role of F. varium in the rumen is still not fully understood, our findings draw attention to this pathogen and its potential implication in liver abscesses.