Progress 02/01/18 to 01/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience that our project reached and will continue reaching includes graduate students, undergraduate students, scientists, faculty, and staff in Animal Science, Microbiology, Food Science, and CEMB. Scientists from the swine and food industry are also interested in our project. Since pigs are consumed throughout the world, our audience includes population groups such as racial and ethnic minorities and those who are socially, economically, or educationally disadvantaged. The science-based knowledge has been delivered through publications, conference presentations, and classroom instructions. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Three Ph.D. students graduated/will graduate from this project, including Dr. Xiaofan Wang, Yongjie Wang, and Bin Zuo (December 2023). Two postdocs were trained in this project (Drs. Xiaofan Wang and Marcela de Souza) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Five high-impact papers were published in top-tier journals Wang X#, Tsai TC#, Zuo B, We X, Deng F, Li Y, Maxwell, C, Yang H, Xiao Y* and Zhao J*. (2022) Donor age and body weight determine the effect of fecal microbiota transplantation on growth performance and fecal microbiota development in recipient pigs. Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology, 2022, 13:49, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40104-022-00696-1, IF: 6.2. de Souza M.M., D.A. Koltes, H. Beiki, M.A. Sales, T. Tsai, C.V. Maxwell, J. Zhao, J.E. Koltes. Early-Life Exposure of Pigs to Topsoil Alters miRNA and mRNA Expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells. Frontiers in Genetics. 2022;13:886875. Wang X, Howe S, Wei X, Deng F, Tsai TC, Chai J, Xiao Y, Yang H, Maxwell C, Li Y and Zhao J*. (2021) Comprehensive cultivation of the swine gut microbiome reveals high bacterial diversity and guides bacterial isolation in pigs. mSystems, 2021, 6:e00477-21. https://doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.00477-21. IF: 7.3. Li Y, Wang X, Wang XQ, Wang J*, and Zhao J*. (2020) Life-long dynamics of the swine gut microbiome and their implications in probiotics development and food safety. Gut Microbes, 2020, 11(6):1824-1832, doi: 10.1080/19490976.2020.1773748; IF: 10.2. Wang X#, Tsai T#, Deng F, Wei X, Chai J, Knapp J, Apple J, Maxwell C, Lee JA, Li Y*, and Zhao J*. (2019) Longitudinal investigation of the swine gut microbiome from birth to market reveals stage and growth performance associated bacteria. Microbiome, 2019, 7(1):109, doi: 10.1186/s40168-019-0721-7; IF: 16.8. (ESI highly cited paper) Nine conference presentations Zhao J. Finding a needle in a haystack: identification, cultivation, and development of novel probiotic bacterial strain from the swine gut microbiome. December 4, 2022. International conference on animal nutrition and gut health, Wuhan, China. Zhao J. From big data to cultureomics: towards the establishment of a causal relationship between swine gut microbiome and animal production. 7th international symposium on gastrointestinal microbial ecology and functionality. November 18-19, 2021 Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Zhao J. Translating swine gut microbiome research into animal production: challenges, opportunities and future directions. October 25-29, 2021. Annual Sino-Micro meeting (Sino-Micro 2021, Shanghai, China. Wang, Y., Tsai, T.C., Morse, P., Zhang, S., Maxwell, C., Zhao, J. and Huang, Y., 2021. Effects of early-life exposure to topsoil on the muscle fiber characteristics and gene expression of weaned piglets. ASAS-CSAS-SSASAS. Poster presented Zhao J. The impact of swine gut microbiome on animal production, pork safety and quality. August 16, 2021. 74th American Meat Science Association (AMSA) Reciprocal Meat conference (RMC), Reno, Nevada. Zhao J. Early-life modulation of the gut microbiome has long-term effects on swine health and production. March 3, 2020. Inaugural speaker for the Maxwell Lectureship, Young Pig Health and Nutrition, 53rd Annual Meeting of the ASAS Midwest Section and the ADSA Midwest Branch. Omaha, NE. Wang, X, Deng F., Wei X., Tsai, T, C. V. Maxwell, Jiangchao Zhao, 2019. Towards a better understanding of the gut microbiome functions in the swine production: extensive cultivation of the swine gut microbiome from different growth stages. ASAS-CASC. Wang, X, Tsai, T., Deng F, Wei X., Chai J., Knapp J., Apple J., C. V. Maxwell, JungAe Lee, Y. Li, J. Zhao. 2019. Longitudinal Investigation of The Swine Gut Microbiome from Birth to Market Revealed Stage Associated Microbiome. ASM. de Souza M., D. Koltes, H. Beiki, T. Tsai, M. Sales, C. Maxwell, J. Zhao, J. Koltes. miRNA and mRNA differential expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of pigs exposed to topsoil in early life. Proceedings of the 37th International Society of Animal Genetics; 2019; Lleida, Spain. Poster presented What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: To determine the effects of early-life exposure to topsoil on the establishment of the GIT microbiome pre-weaning, the subsequent post-weaning evolution during nursery phase and how changes in the GIT microbiome correlate with feed efficiency. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Animal trial and sample collection were conducted as proposed. 2) Data collected; Microbiome data were collected as proposed. The software package QIIME2 was applied to analyze the next-generation sequencing data. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results and Pearson correlation was used to identify bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) correlated with BW. ASV3 was positively correlated with BW at day 33 in the fecal sample. ASV3 was classified as Lactobacillus amylovorus, which has exhibited several potential probiotic properties, such as antimicrobial activity. ASV44 was positively correlated with BW at day 19 in duodenum. ASV44 was classified as Phascolarctobacterium succinatutens, which mainly adopts the propionate-succinate pathway for the production of propionate. ASV155 was positively correlated with BW at day 33 in the ileum and fecal samples and on day 61 in the duodenum samples. This ASV started showing up during nursery. ASV155 was classified as Eubacterium eligens, which has the capability to use pectin as the carbon source with a positive impact on intestinal inflammation. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Samples collected from a subset of the control group pigs have been used to investigate the longitudinal change in the swine gut microbiome, food safety, cultureomics, and fecal microbiota transplantation, which have resulted in four high-impact publications. Identification of ASVs correlated with BW will lead to the development of swine-origin probiotics to promote growth performance. Objective 2: To determine how changes in ileal microbiome correlate with ileal physiology and nutrient digestibility, absorption and availability. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Nutrient digestibility and concentration of circulating metabolites were measured as proposed. Transcriptome analyses were conducted utilizing two different methods to determine 1) messenger RNA (mRNA) from the duodenum and 2) dual RNA-seq from the ileum/bacteria samples. Protein analysis was conducted as proposed. 2) Data collected; Growth performance (BW, ADG), digestibility, gut physiology, and transcriptome data were collected. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results and As for intestinal morphology, duodenum villus height tended to be higher in pigs exposed to ITS than control pigs, with TS pigs as intermediate at weaning (P = 0.1) and phase 1 (P = 0.1). In contrast, a significantly greater villus height to crypt depth ratio in pigs exposed to both ITS and TS was observed at weaning (P = 0.05), suggesting the improvement of nutrient utilization in these pigs. The benefit of soil exposure on intestine morphology measured is only shown during weaning or early post-weaning and is segment specific (only in duodenum but not in jejunum). Regarding digestibility, we detected a significantly better dry matter digestibility in ITS pigs than in control pigs with TS pigs as intermediate when using titanium dioxide as an indigestible marker (P = 0.0405). In the meantime, TS pigs showed a tendency of greater ability to utilize the dietary energy, nitrogen, and mineral (refer to ash content) when compared to control pigs with ITS pigs as intermediate. Plasma total protein and albumin were higher in both ITS and TS pigs at d21 and the end of phase 3 (d61) than in control pigs. In contrast, a higher total plasma protein and albumin were observed in control pigs at the end of phase 1 (d 29) than in both ITS and TS pigs (Treatment by age P =0.0108 and P = 0.0108, respectively). Plasma alkaline phosphatase activity was higher in ITS and TS pigs at d 21 and d 29 than in control pigs, while no difference was observed at d 61 when compared to control pigs (Treatment by age P = 0.0837). Duodenum transcriptome result showed a clear separation between day18 (weaning) and day32 (end of nursery phase 1) on the PCA plot. Deseq was performed to find differentially expressed genes among treatment groups (Table 1). When compared to the CON group, ITS had 310 gens and 228 genes upregulated on days 18 and 33, respectively. Among these genes, TFF2 (Gene ID: 397420) encodes gastrointestinal secretory protein to stabilize the mucus layer and affect the healing of the epithelium. Genes such as GSTA3 (Gene ID: 100526118) and AACS (Gene ID: 100156545) involved in sugar metabolism and transportation were also upregulated in the ITS group. When compared to the CON group, TS pigs had 450 gens and 434 genes upregulated on days 18 and 33, respectively. Among those, genes such as SCAMP4 (Gene ID: 100738966), AQP5 (Gene ID: 100126278), and SFXN5 (Gene ID: 100621633), are important for membrane transportation, indicating higher nutrient absorption efficiency in the TS group. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Our result showed several possible mechanisms by which topsoil exposure increases postweaning feed efficiency, such as improvement in gut development (duodenum morphology), digestibility, and up regulations of genes involved in nutrient transportation. Objective 3: To assess how changes in GIT microbiome correlate with muscle and adipose accretion. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Sample Collection, muscle histological analysis, muscle growth and lipid deposition, and protein analysis were conducted as proposed. 2) Data collected; Histological data, gene expression data, and protein expression data were collected. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results and Muscle histological analysis: The muscle fiber diameter of the Irradiated soil group exhibited a statistically significant increase compared to both the Topsoil and Control groups (P < 0.05). Moreover, the Topsoil group displayed a significantly greater diameter than the Control group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, both the Irradiated soil and Topsoil groups demonstrated significantly larger muscle fiber areas in comparison to the Control group (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences were observed in muscle fiber numbers across the various groups (P > 0.05). LM muscle relative gene expression: The Topsoil group exhibited a significant upregulation in the gene expression of MyoG in the LM muscle compared to both the Control and Irradiated soil groups (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences observed in the gene expression of Myf5 and MSTN between the groups (P > 0.05). Regarding fat deposition, the gene expression of CD36 in the Control group was significantly higher than that in the Topsoil group (P < 0.05), whereas no significant difference was found between the Control and Irradiated soil groups (P > 0.05). Protein expression of LM: The protein expression of MyHC I and MyHC IIa was found to be consistent with the PCR results. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. The present experimental findings provide compelling evidence supporting the notion that exposure to topsoil plays a pivotal role in promoting myogenesis, modulating the transcriptional regulation of muscle fiber types, influencing intramuscular fat deposition, and regulating the lipolysis process.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
2. de Souza M.M., D.A. Koltes, H. Beiki, M.A. Sales, T. Tsai, C.V. Maxwell, J. Zhao, J.E. Koltes. Early-Life Exposure of Pigs to Topsoil Alters miRNA and mRNA Expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells. Frontiers in Genetics. 2022;13:886875.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
1. Wang X#, Tsai TC#, Zuo B, We X, Deng F, Li Y, Maxwell, C, Yang H, Xiao Y* and Zhao J*. (2022) Donor age and body weight determine the effect of fecal microbiota transplantation on growth performance and fecal microbiota development in recipient pigs. Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology, 2022, 13:49, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40104-022-00696-1, IF: 6.2.
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