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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Food Safety and Enteric Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #351614
Research Project: Intestinal Microbial Ecology and Metagenomic Strategies to Reduce Antibiotic Resistance and Foodborne Pathogens

Location: Food Safety and Enteric Pathogens Research

Title: Megasphaera stantonii sp. nov., a butyrate-producing bacterium isolated from the cecum of a healthy chicken

Author
item Looft, Torey
item MAKI, JOEL - Orise Fellow

Submitted to: International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/13/2018
Publication Date: 10/3/2018
Citation: Maki, J.J., Looft, T., 2018. Megasphaera stantonii sp. nov., a butyrate-producing bacterium isolated from the cecum of a healthy chicken. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 68:3409-3415. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.002991.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.002991

Interpretive Summary: Poultry production in the US is a 40 billion dollars a year industry. Understanding how microbial communities in the poultry gut impact animal health, production, and food safety is essential for support of the industry. In this study, we describe, a new bacterial species (Megasphaera stantonii), which was isolated from a chicken intestinal tract. Bacteria like M. stantonii can produce chemicals beneficial to poultry, including compounds that improve intestinal health and food safety. The characterization of M. stantonii provides the first biochemical and genomic information about this bacteria in poultry, and adds new information about this group of bacteria. Studies like these improve our understanding of the organisms that are present in the poultry gut and what roles they play in animal nutrition and health.

Technical Abstract: A novel mesophilic, anaerobic, Gram negative bacterium was isolated from the cecum of a healthy, white leghorn chicken, and designated AJH120T. Cells were coccoid or diplococcoid with an average size of 0.8-1.8 mu and were non-motile with no evidence of spores. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed this organism to be a member of the genus Megasphaera, with the closest relatives being M. elsdenii (95 percent sequence identity) and M. cerevisiae (95 percent sequence identity). Growth was observed between 30-50 degree C and between 5.0-9.0 pH. AJH120T utilized a variety of carbon sources including succinate, gluconate, fructose, ribose, pyruvate, as well as many individual amino acids. The DNA G+C content for the genome sequence of AJH120 T was 52.1 mol percent. Virtual DNA-DNA hybridization between AJH120T and close taxonomic relatives, indicated divergence consistent with a novel species. The major fatty acid methyl ester contents of the organism were C12:0, C14:0 3OH, C18:1 omega9c, C16:0, and C16.1 omega9c respectively. AJH120T was able to produce several short chain fatty acids, including butyrate, acetate, propionate, and isovalerate. Together, these data indicate AJH120T represents a novel species within the genus Megasphaera. We propose the name Megasphaera stantonii sp. nov. for the species. The type strain of this species is AJH120T (equals DSM 106750T equals CCUG).