Intestinal microbiota is critical for maintaining animal health and homeostasis. However, involvement of the fungal community, also known as the mycobiota, in animal health and disease is poorly understood. This study was aimed to examine the association between the intestinal mycobiota and the severity of necrotic enteritis (NE), an economically significant poultry disease. A total of 90 day-of-hatch Cobb broilers were infected with Eimeria maxima on d 10, followed by an oral challenge with C. perfringens on d 14 to induce NE, while another 10 broilers were served as mock-infected controls. On d 17, the lesions in the jejunum were scored, and the ileal digesta were subjected to DNA isolation and real-time PCR quantification of total bacterial and fungi populations. Internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) amplicon sequencing was also performed to profile the ileal mycobiota composition. Changes in the ileal mycobiota in response to NE were investigated. Spearman correlation analysis was further conducted to identify the correlations between relative abundances of individual ileal fungi and the severity of NE. While the total bacterial population in the ileum was increased by 2- to 3-fold in NE chickens, the total fungal population was progressively declined in more exacerbated NE, with the most severely infected chickens showing a nearly 50-fold reduction relative to mock-infected controls. Richness of the ileal mycobiota also tended to reduce in chickens with NE (P = 0.06). Compositionally, among 30 most abundant fungal amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), 11 were diminished and 7 were enriched (P < 0.05), while 12 remained largely unchanged in NE-afflicted chickens (P > 0.05). Multiple Wallemia and Aspergillus species were markedly diminished in NE (P < 0.05) and also showed a significant negative correlation with NE severity (P < 0.05). Dysbiosis of the ileal mycobiota is induced evidently by NE and the extent of the dysbiosis is positively correlated with disease severity. These findings suggest a possible role of the intestinal mycobiota in NE pathogenesis and highlight the mycobiota as a new potential target for NE mitigation in poultry.

中文翻译：

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肉鸡坏死性肠炎对回肠菌群的扰动

肠道微生物群对于维持动物健康和体内平衡至关重要。然而，真菌群落，也称为真菌群落，对动物健康和疾病的参与知之甚少。本研究旨在检查肠道菌群与坏死性肠炎 (NE) 严重程度之间的关联，坏死性肠炎 (NE) 是一种具有经济意义的家禽疾病。总共 90 只孵化科布肉鸡在第 10 天感染极大艾美球虫，然后在第 14 天口服产气荚膜梭菌以诱导 NE，而另外 10 只肉鸡用作模拟感染对照。在第 17 天，对空肠中的病变进行评分，并对回肠食糜进行 DNA 分离和实时 PCR 定量总细菌和真菌种群。还进行了内部转录间隔区 2 (ITS2) 扩增子测序以分析回肠菌群组成。调查了回肠菌群响应 NE 的变化。进一步进行 Spearman 相关分析以确定单个回肠真菌的相对丰度与 NE 严重程度之间的相关性。虽然 NE 鸡回肠中的细菌总数增加了 2 到 3 倍，但在更严重的 NE 鸡中，真菌总数逐渐减少，感染最严重的鸡相对于模拟鸡减少了近 50 倍。感染控制。NE 鸡的回肠菌群丰富度也趋于降低（P = 0.06）。在组成上，在 30 个最丰富的真菌扩增子序列变体 (ASV) 中，11 个减少，7 个富集 (P < 0.05)，而 12 在受 NE 影响的鸡中基本保持不变（P > 0.05）。NE 中多种 Wallemia 和 Aspergillus 物种显着减少（P < 0.05），并且与 NE 严重程度呈显着负相关（P < 0.05）。回肠菌群的生态失调明显是由 NE 诱导的，生态失调的程度与疾病的严重程度呈正相关。这些发现表明肠道菌群在 NE 发病机制中的可能作用，并强调了菌群是家禽 NE 缓解的新潜在目标。回肠菌群的生态失调明显是由 NE 诱导的，生态失调的程度与疾病的严重程度呈正相关。这些发现表明肠道菌群在 NE 发病机制中的可能作用，并强调了菌群是家禽 NE 缓解的新潜在目标。回肠菌群的生态失调明显是由 NE 诱导的，生态失调的程度与疾病的严重程度呈正相关。这些发现表明肠道菌群在 NE 发病机制中的可能作用，并强调了菌群是减轻家禽 NE 的新潜在目标。