Effects of Vitamin B2 Supplementation in Broilers Microbiota and Metabolome

From Metabolism to Vitality: Uncovering Riboflavin's Importance in Poultry Nutrition

Riboflavin, or vitamin B2, is indispensable for poultry, profoundly impacting their metabolic equilibrium, growth, and overall health. In a climate of increasing demand for poultry products and heightened production intensity, grasping the multifaceted roles of riboflavin in domestic fowl nutrition becomes paramount. This essential vitamin serves as a precursor to two vital coenzymes, flavin mononucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide, integral players in pivotal redox reactions and energy metabolism. Inadequate riboflavin levels translate into stunted growth, skeletal deformities, and compromised feed conversion efficiency, thereby adversely affecting poultry performance and bottom-line profitability. Riboflavin goes beyond its fundamental role, ameliorating nutrient utilization, facilitating protein synthesis, and augmenting enzyme activity, rightfully earning its epithet as the "growth-promoting vitamin". Poultry's reproductive success intricately hinges on riboflavin levels, dictating egg production and hatchability. It is imperative to note that riboflavin requirements exhibit variations among poultry species and distinct production phases, emphasizing the importance of judicious and balanced supplementation strategies. Aligning dietary recommendations with genetic advancements holds the promise of fostering sustainable growth within the poultry sector. Exploring the multifaceted aspects of riboflavin empowers researchers, nutritionists, and producers to elevate poultry nutrition and overall well-being, harmonizing with the industry's evolving demands.

Application of multi-omic features clustering and pathway enrichment to clarify the impact of vitamin B2 supplementation on broiler caeca microbiome

Background

The results of omic methodologies are often reported as separate datasets. In this study we applied for the first time multi-omic features clustering and pathway enrichment to clarify the biological impact of vitamin B2 supplementation on broiler caeca microbiome.

Methods

The caeca contents of broilers fed +50 and +100 mg/kg vitamin B2 were analyzed by shotgun metagenomic and metabolomic. Latent variables extracted from NMR spectra, as well as taxonomic and functional features profiled from metagenomes, were integrated to characterize the effect of vitamin B2 in modulating caeca microbiome. A pathway-based network was obtained by mapping the observed input genes and compounds, highlighting connected strands of metabolic ways through pathway-enrichment analysis.

Results

At day 14, the taxonomic, functional and metabolomic features in the caeca of tested broilers showed some degree of separation between control and treated groups, becoming fully clear at 28 days and persisting up to 42 days. In the caeca of birds belonging to the control group Alistipes spp. was the signature species, while the signature species in the caeca of broilers fed +50 and +100 mg/kg vitamin B2 were Bacteroides fragilis and Lactobacillus crispatus, Lactobacillus reuteri, Ruminococcus torques, Subdoligranum spp., respectively. The pathway enrichment analysis highlighted that the specific biochemical pathways enhanced by the supplementations of vitamin B2 were N-Formyl-L-aspartate amidohydrolase, producing Aspartate and Formate; L-Alanine:2-oxoglutarate amino transferase, supporting the conversion of L-Alanine and 2-Oxoglutarate in Pyruvate and L-Glutamate; 1D-myo-inositol 1/4 phosphate phosphohydrolase, converting Inositol 1/4-phosphate and water in myo-Inositol and Orthophosphate. The results of this study demonstrated that the caeca of birds fed +50 and + 100 mg/kg were those characterized by taxonomic groups more beneficial to the host and with a higher concentration of myo-inositol, formic acid, amino acids and pyruvate involved in glycolysis and amino acid biosynthesis.

Conclusion

In this study we demonstrated how to perform multi-omic features integration to describe the biochemical mechanisms enhanced by the supplementation of different concentrations of vitamin B2 in the poultry diet. The relationship between vitamin B2 supplementation and myo-inositol production was highlighted in our study for the first time.

Effects of nano-selenium on cecum microbial community and metabolomics in chickens challenged with Ochratoxin A

Introduction

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a widely distributed mycotoxin. Nano-selenium (Nano-Se) is an emerging form of selenium known for its superior bioavailability, remarkable catalytic efficiency, and robust adsorbing capacity. Despite these characteristics, its impact on the microbial community and metabolomics in the cecum of chickens exposed to OTA has been infrequently investigated. This research examined the microbiota and metabolomic alterations linked to OTA in chickens, with or without Nano-Se present.

Methods

A cohort of 80 healthy chickens at the age of 1 day was randomly distributed into four groups of equal numbers, namely the Se cohort (1 mg/kg Nano-Se), the OTA cohort (50 μg/kg OTA), the OTA-Se cohort (50 μg/kg OTA + 1 mg/kg Nano-Se), and the control group. Each chicken group's caecal microbiome and metabolome were characterized using 16S rRNA sequencing and Liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analyses.

Results and discussion

Our results showed that the on day 21, the final body weight was significantly reduced in response to OTA treatments (p < 0.05), the average daily gain in the OTA group was found to be inferior to the other groups (p < 0.01). In addition, Nano-Se supplementation could reduce the jejunum and liver pathological injuries caused by OTA exposure. The 16S rRNA sequencing suggest that Nano-Se supplementation in OTA-exposed chickens mitigated gut microbiota imbalances by promoting beneficial microbiota and suppressing detrimental bacteria. Moreover, untargeted metabolomics revealed a significant difference in caecal metabolites by Nano-Se pretreatment. Collectively, the dataset outcomes highlighted that Nano-Se augmentation regulates intestinal microbiota and associated metabolite profiles, thus influencing critical metabolic pathways, and points to a possible food-additive product.

A meta-analysis of the effect of Eimeria spp. and/or Clostridium perfringens infection on the microbiota of broiler chickens

Coccidiosis in chickens is caused by Eimeria spp. The infection provides a growth advantage to Clostridium perfringens (CP), frequently leading to necrotic enteritis. One approach to alleviate the negative impacts of the diseases is to improve the bacterial composition in chickens, and many experiments investigating chicken enteric health in recent years include the characterization of the bacterial microbiota. This meta-analysis synthesized the data of studies investigating the intestinal microbiota after infection with coccidia and/or CP to provide a basis for future research. Inclusion criteria were that experiments contained a group infected with one or both pathogens and an uninfected control group, the use of 16SrRNA Illumina sequencing and the availability of raw data. A total of 17 studies could be included. Meta-analyses of 3 different data sets were performed: 1 on data of 9 experiments on chickens infected with coccidia only; the second on data of 4 studies on chickens infected with CP only; the third on raw data of 8 experiments with chickens infected with coccidia and CP. The meta-analysis of relative abundance and alpha diversity of the data sets was performed in R using the SIAMCAT and metafor packages. The number of families of interest identified by the analyses of experiments with infection with coccidia only, CP only and the combined infection were 23, 2, and 29, respectively. There was an overlap of 13 families identified by analyses of experiments with infection with coccidia only and of experiments with the combined infections. Machine learning was not able to find a model to predict changes of the microbiota in either 1 of the 3 analyses. Meta-analyses of functional profiles showed a more uniform reaction to the infections with the relative abundance of many pathways significantly altered. Alpha diversity was not affected by infection with either pathogen or the combination. In conclusion, the heterogeneity of these microbiota studies makes recognizing common trends difficult, although it seems that coccidia infection affects the microbiota more than an infection with CP. Future studies should focus on the bacterial functions that are changed due to these infections using metagenome techniques.

How to employ metabolomic analysis to research on functions of prebiotics and probiotics in poultry gut health?

Gut health can be considered one of the major, manageable constituents of the animal immunity and performance. The fast spread of intestinal diseases, and increase of antimicrobial resistance have been observed, therefore the intestinal health has become not only economically relevant, but also highly important subject addressing the interest of public health. It is expected, that the strategies to control infections should be based on development of natural immunity in animals and producing resilient flocks using natural solutions, whilst eliminating antibiotics and veterinary medicinal products from action. Probiotics and prebiotics have been favored, because they have potential to directly or indirectly optimize intestinal health by manipulating the metabolism of the intestinal tract, including the microbiota. Studying the metabolome of probiotics and gut environment, both in vivo, or using the in vitro models, is required to attain the scientific understanding about the functions of bioactive compounds in development of gut health and life lasting immunity. There is a practical need to identify new metabolites being the key bioactive agents regulating biochemical pathways of systems associated with gut (gut-associated axes). Technological advancement in metabolomics studies, and increasing access to the powerful analytical platforms have paved a way to implement metabolomics in exploration of the effects of prebiotics and probiotics on the intestinal health of poultry. In this article, the basic principles of metabolomics in research involving probiotics and probiotics are introduced, together with the overview of existing strategies and suggestions of their use to study metabolome in poultry.

Effect of riboflavin deficiency on intestinal morphology, jejunum mucosa proteomics, and cecal microbiota of Pekin ducks

This study was to determine the effects of riboflavin deficiency (RD) on intestinal development, jejunum mucosa proteome, cecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) profiling, and cecal microbial diversity and community of starter Pekin ducks. Male white Pekin ducks (1 d old, n = 240) were allocated into 2 groups, with 12 replicates and 10 birds per replicate in each group. For 21 d, all ducks had ad libitum access to either an RD or a riboflavin adequate (control, CON) diet, formulated by supplementing a basal diet with 0 or 10 mg riboflavin per kg of diet, respectively. Compared to the CON group, growth retardation, high mortality, and poor riboflavin status were observed in the RD group. Furthermore, RD reduced the villus height and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth of jejunum and ileum (P < 0.05), indicating morphological alterations of the small intestine. In addition, dietary RD enhanced relative cecum weight and decreased cecal SCFA concentrations (P < 0.05), including propionate, isobutyrate, butyrate, and isovalerate. The jejunum mucosa proteomics showed that 208 proteins were upregulated and 229 proteins were downregulated in the RD group compared to those in the CON group. Among these, RD mainly suppressed intestinal absorption and energy generation processes such as glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, fatty acid beta oxidation, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation, leading to impaired ATP generation. In addition, RD decreased the community richness and diversity of the bacterial community in the cecum of ducks. Specifically, RD reduced the abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria in the cecum (P < 0.05), such as Eubacterium coprostanoligenes, Prevotella and Faecalibacterium. Dietary RD resulted in growth depression and intestinal hypofunction of Pekin ducks, which could be associated with impaired intestinal absorption and energy generation processes in intestinal mucosa, as well as gut microbiota dysbiosis. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms of intestinal hypofunction due to RD.

Fecal microbiota monitoring in elite soccer players along the 2019-2020 competitive season

Physical exercise affects the human gut microbiota that, in turn, influences athletes' performance. The current understanding of how the microbiota of professional athletes changes along with different phases of training is sparse. We aim to characterize the fecal microbiota in elite soccer players along with different phases of a competitive season using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Fecal samples were collected after the summer off-season period, the pre-season retreat, the first half of the competitive season, and the 8 weeks COVID-19 lockdown that interrupted the season 2019-2020. According to our results, the gut microbiota of professional athletes changes along with the phases of the season, characterized by different training, diet, nutritional surveillance, and environment sharing. Pre-season retreat, during which nutritional surveillance and exercise intensity were at their peak, caused a decrease in bacterial groups related to unhealthy lifestyle and an increase in health-promoting symbionts. The competitive season and forced interruption affected other features of the athletes' microbiota, i.e. bacterial groups that respond to dietary fibers load and stress levels. Our longitudinal study, focusing on one of the most followed sports worldwide, provides baseline data for future comparisons and microbiome-targeting interventions aimed at developing personalized training and nutrition plans for performances maximization.

Investigating the biotechnological potential of lactic acid bacteria strains isolated from different Algerian dairy and farm sources

Currently, consumption of spontaneously fermented milks is common in Algeria, making it a feasible source of diverse lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with the potential to be used as adjunct cultures to improve quality and safety of fermented dairy products. In this context, to select eligible indigenous strains which could be applied as bioprotective and/or starter cultures, the present study aimed to characterize the genomic variability, biotechnological potential, and safety of thirty-eight LAB isolated from Algerian dairy and farm sources of western Algeria. The isolates were unequivocally identified by 16S rRNA gene and fingerprint-based methods. The following species were identified: Enterococcus faecium (n = 15), Enterococcus durans (n = 2), Enterococcus hirae (n = 2), Enterococcus lactis (n = 1), Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (n = 6), Lactococcus lactis (n = 4), Levilactobacillus brevis (n = 3), Lacticaseibacillus paracasei (n = 3), Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus (n = 1), and Pediococcus acidilactici (n = 1). Among the strains, three of them, L. lactis LGMY8, Lb. plantarum LGMY30 and Lb. paracasei LGMY31 were safe and showed some valuable biotechnological properties, such as high acidification, proteolytic activity, EPS production, and inhibition of undesirable bacteria that made them powerful candidates to be used as starter.

Vitamin B-12 and the Gastrointestinal Microbiome: A Systematic Review

Vitamin B-12 deficiency is a major public health problem affecting individuals across the lifespan, with known hematological, neurological, and obstetric consequences. Emerging evidence suggests that vitamin B-12 may have an important role in other aspects of human health, including the composition and function of the gastrointestinal (gut) microbiome. Vitamin B-12 is synthesized and utilized by bacteria in the human gut microbiome and is required for over a dozen enzymes in bacteria, compared to only two in humans. However, the impact of vitamin B-12 on the gut microbiome has not been established. This systematic review was conducted to examine the evidence that links vitamin B-12 and the gut microbiome. A structured search strategy was used to identify in vitro, animal, and human studies that assessed vitamin B-12 status, dietary intake, or supplementation, and the gut microbiome using culture-independent techniques. A total of 22 studies (3 in vitro, 8 animal, 11 human observational studies) were included. Nineteen studies reported vitamin B-12 intake, status, or supplementation was associated with gut microbiome outcomes, including beta-diversity, alpha-diversity, relative abundance of bacteria, functional capacity, or short chain fatty acid production. Evidence suggests vitamin B-12 may be associated with changes in bacterial abundance. While results from in vitro studies suggest vitamin B-12 may increase alpha-diversity and shift gut microbiome composition (beta-diversity), findings from animal studies and observational human studies were heterogeneous. Based on evidence from in vitro and animal studies, microbiome outcomes may differ by cobalamin form and co-intervention. To date, few prospective observational studies and no randomized trials have been conducted to examine the effects of vitamin B-12 on the human gut microbiome. The impact of vitamin B-12 on the gut microbiome needs to be elucidated to inform screening and public health interventions. Statement of significance: Vitamin B-12 is synthesized and utilized by bacteria in the human gut microbiome and is required by over a dozen enzymes in bacteria. However, to date, no systematic reviews have been conducted to evaluate the impact of vitamin B-12 on the gut microbiome, or its implications for human health.