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Recurring Necrotic Enteritis Outbreaks in Commercial Broiler Chicken Flocks Strongly Influence Toxin Gene Carriage and Species Richness in the Resident Clostridium perfringens Population

Extensive use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in food animals has been questioned due to the globally increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. For the poultry industry, digestive health management following AGP withdrawal in Europe has been a challenge, especially the control of necrotic e...

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Autores principales: Gaucher, Marie-Lou, Perron, Gabriel G., Arsenault, Julie, Letellier, Ann, Boulianne, Martine, Quessy, Sylvain
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5434140/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28567032
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00881
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author Gaucher, Marie-Lou
Perron, Gabriel G.
Arsenault, Julie
Letellier, Ann
Boulianne, Martine
Quessy, Sylvain
author_facet Gaucher, Marie-Lou
Perron, Gabriel G.
Arsenault, Julie
Letellier, Ann
Boulianne, Martine
Quessy, Sylvain
author_sort Gaucher, Marie-Lou
collection PubMed
description Extensive use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in food animals has been questioned due to the globally increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. For the poultry industry, digestive health management following AGP withdrawal in Europe has been a challenge, especially the control of necrotic enteritis. Much research work has focused on gut health in commercial broiler chicken husbandry. Understanding the behavior of Clostridium perfringens in its ecological niche, the poultry barn, is key to a sustainable and cost-effective production in the absence of AGPs. Using polymerase chain reaction and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, we evaluated how the C. perfringens population evolved in drug-free commercial broiler chicken farms, either healthy or affected with recurring clinical necrotic enteritis outbreaks, over a 14-month period. We show that a high genotypic richness was associated with an increased risk of clinical necrotic enteritis. Also, necrotic enteritis-affected farms had a significant reduction of C. perfringens genotypic richness over time, an increase in the proportion of C. perfringens strains harboring the cpb2 gene, the netB gene, or both. Thus, necrotic enteritis occurrence is correlated with the presence of an initial highly diverse C. perfringens population, increasing the opportunity for the selective sweep of particularly virulent genotypes. Disease outbreaks also appear to largely influence the evolution of this bacterial species in poultry farms over time.
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spelling pubmed-54341402017-05-31 Recurring Necrotic Enteritis Outbreaks in Commercial Broiler Chicken Flocks Strongly Influence Toxin Gene Carriage and Species Richness in the Resident Clostridium perfringens Population Gaucher, Marie-Lou Perron, Gabriel G. Arsenault, Julie Letellier, Ann Boulianne, Martine Quessy, Sylvain Front Microbiol Microbiology Extensive use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in food animals has been questioned due to the globally increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. For the poultry industry, digestive health management following AGP withdrawal in Europe has been a challenge, especially the control of necrotic enteritis. Much research work has focused on gut health in commercial broiler chicken husbandry. Understanding the behavior of Clostridium perfringens in its ecological niche, the poultry barn, is key to a sustainable and cost-effective production in the absence of AGPs. Using polymerase chain reaction and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, we evaluated how the C. perfringens population evolved in drug-free commercial broiler chicken farms, either healthy or affected with recurring clinical necrotic enteritis outbreaks, over a 14-month period. We show that a high genotypic richness was associated with an increased risk of clinical necrotic enteritis. Also, necrotic enteritis-affected farms had a significant reduction of C. perfringens genotypic richness over time, an increase in the proportion of C. perfringens strains harboring the cpb2 gene, the netB gene, or both. Thus, necrotic enteritis occurrence is correlated with the presence of an initial highly diverse C. perfringens population, increasing the opportunity for the selective sweep of particularly virulent genotypes. Disease outbreaks also appear to largely influence the evolution of this bacterial species in poultry farms over time. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-05-17 /pmc/articles/PMC5434140/ /pubmed/28567032 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00881 Text en Copyright © 2017 Gaucher, Perron, Arsenault, Letellier, Boulianne and Quessy. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Gaucher, Marie-Lou
Perron, Gabriel G.
Arsenault, Julie
Letellier, Ann
Boulianne, Martine
Quessy, Sylvain
Recurring Necrotic Enteritis Outbreaks in Commercial Broiler Chicken Flocks Strongly Influence Toxin Gene Carriage and Species Richness in the Resident Clostridium perfringens Population
title Recurring Necrotic Enteritis Outbreaks in Commercial Broiler Chicken Flocks Strongly Influence Toxin Gene Carriage and Species Richness in the Resident Clostridium perfringens Population
title_full Recurring Necrotic Enteritis Outbreaks in Commercial Broiler Chicken Flocks Strongly Influence Toxin Gene Carriage and Species Richness in the Resident Clostridium perfringens Population
title_fullStr Recurring Necrotic Enteritis Outbreaks in Commercial Broiler Chicken Flocks Strongly Influence Toxin Gene Carriage and Species Richness in the Resident Clostridium perfringens Population
title_full_unstemmed Recurring Necrotic Enteritis Outbreaks in Commercial Broiler Chicken Flocks Strongly Influence Toxin Gene Carriage and Species Richness in the Resident Clostridium perfringens Population
title_short Recurring Necrotic Enteritis Outbreaks in Commercial Broiler Chicken Flocks Strongly Influence Toxin Gene Carriage and Species Richness in the Resident Clostridium perfringens Population
title_sort recurring necrotic enteritis outbreaks in commercial broiler chicken flocks strongly influence toxin gene carriage and species richness in the resident clostridium perfringens population
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5434140/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28567032
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00881
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