Recipient Organization
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ITHACA,NY 14853
Performing Department
Population Medicine And Diagnostic Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Mastitis is a highly prevalent disease in dairy cows and is arguably the most important one for the dairy industry worldwide, causing economic losses due to reduced milk production, discarded milk, lower probability of conception, premature culling, and treatment cost. The goal of the proposed project is to conduct basic and applied research to bring new understanding to dairy cow mastitis etiopathogenesis. Specifically, we will use metagenomic sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, experimental challenge as well as field studies to create unprecedented knowledge regarding the bacterial etiology of bovine mastitis, as well as to evaluate the effects of commonly used antibiotic treatments on mastitic and normal milk microbial communities. The proposed project will create knew knowledge and we expect obtained results to change our perception of clinical mastitis leading to reevaluation of treatment and prevention strategies. Additionally, a novel diagnostic and prognostic tool for mastitis will be evaluated.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal of our proposed research is to utilize the dynamics in intramammary microbial communities to optimize preventative, diagnostic and treatment protocols for bovine mastitis. We will exploit 16S rRNA gene sequencing on the Illumina GAIIx platform to study the dynamics of intramammary microbial communities and use experimental and observational data to reach our long-term goal. Our specific objectives are: Objective 1: Evaluate dynamics of intramammary microbial communities before and after experimental challenge with and treatment of a major mastitis pathogen.Sub-objective 1: Collect and store metagenomic DNA from milk samples before and after experimental challenge with E. coli. Sub-objective 2: Treat half of the challenged animals with intramammary infusion of antibiotics. Sub-objective 3: Use PCR to amplify the 16S rRNA gene from obtained DNA samples and unravel the milk samples' bacteriology by using high-throughput sequencing of the 16s rRNA gene with the Illumina sequencing platform; analyze the information using state-of-the-art bioinformatics as well as advanced discriminant analysis models (JMP). Objective 2: Evaluate dynamics of intramammary microbial communities after a case of Gram-negative clinical mastitis and treatment thereof under field conditions. Sub-objective 1: Associate mastitic milk microbiota profiles before treatment with the response to treatment or no-treatment under field conditions. Sub-objective 2: Evaluate the effects of antibiotics on mastitic milk microbiota profiles.
Project Methods
Objective 1: Evaluate dynamics of intramammary microbial communities before and after experimental challenge with and treatment of a major mastitis pathogen. Sub-objective 1: Collect and store metagenomic DNA from milk samples before and after experimental challenge with E. coli. Sub-objective 2: Treat half of the challenged animals with intramammary infusion of antibiotics. Sub-objective 3: Use PCR to amplify the 16S rRNA gene from obtained DNA samples and unravel the milk samples' bacteriology by using high-throughput sequencing of the 16s rRNA gene with the Illumina sequencing platform; analyze the information using state-of-the-art bioinformatics as well as advanced discriminant analysis models (JMP). Objective 2: Evaluate dynamics of intramammary microbial communities after a case of Gram-negative clinical mastitis and treatment thereof under field conditions. Sub-objective 1: Associate mastitic milk microbiota profiles before treatment with the response to treatment or no-treatment under field conditions. Sub-objective 2: Evaluate the effects of antibiotics on mastitic milk microbiota profiles.