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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fayetteville, Arkansas » Poultry Production and Product Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #406786
Research Project: Multi-hurdle Approaches for Controlling Foodborne Pathogens in Poultry

Location: Poultry Production and Product Safety Research

Title: Impact of heat stress on the chicken cecal bacterial metagenome and luminal serotonin

Author
item JIA, XINGLIN - Iowa State University
item PHILLIPS, GREGORY - Iowa State University
item Caputi, Valentina
item DANIELS, KARRIE - Iowa State University
item LYTE, MARK - Iowa State University
item Lyte, Joshua - Josh

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/23/2023
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Objective: Host stress is a contributing factor to the emergence of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli in the broiler chicken. As a leading cause of avian stress, heat stress has been reported to alter chicken gut microbial diversity. Yet, the impact of heat stress on the cecal bacterial metagenome and luminal concentrations of serotonin has received little attention. As the microbiome and gut serotonin affect E. coli pathogenesis, we sought to determine the role of heat stress in driving changes in serotonin and the microbial metagenome. Methods: Broiler chicks (n=12/group/timepoint) were randomly allocated to control or heat stress (HS) groups. At 4 wks/age, the control group was kept at standard conditions, while the HS group was subjected to a 12-h daily cyclic HS (35°C) for either 1 or 6 consecutive days. Birds were sacrificed at 1 or 6 day(s) following HS. Cecal content was collected for determination of serotonin and microbiome sequencing. Serotonin was quantified using ultra high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (n=12/group/timepoint). Whole-genome shotgun sequencing was performed using the extracted DNA samples (n=10/group/timepoint) on the Illumina NovaSeq 6000-S4 platform at a depth of ~18million reads/sample. The sequencing data was profiled for metagenomic diversity with bioBakery4 and analyzed using linear models. Serotonin concentrations were analyzed using two-way ANOVA with tukey post-hoc test. Results: Cecal content serotonin concentrations were significantly elevated (p<0.05) in the heat stress group compared to control following 6 days of heat stress. Heat stress caused a significant (p<0.05) decrease at the family-level in relative abundances of Lactobacillaceae, Ruminooccaceae, and Bacteriodaceae. Alpha diversity measurements, including the Shannon index, indicated greater (p<0.05) diversity in the microbiome of control group chickens compared to those of the heat stressed group. Principal component analysis revealed significant(p<0.05) separation between the microbiomes of control and heat stressed chickens. Functional enrichment analysis of differentially abundant microbial gene families is ongoing. Conclusions: Heat stress impacted the chicken cecal microbiome, with changes observed in enteric serotonin concentrations. Further investigation is warranted into determining how these changes may impact avian pathogenic Escherichia coli infection in the broiler chicken gut.