Impact of Bacteriophage-Supplemented Drinking Water on the E. coli Population in the Chicken Gut
Open Access
- 16 April 2020
- Vol. 9 (4), 293
- https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9040293
Abstract
Among intestinal coliform microbes in the broiler gut, there are potentially pathogenic Escherichia (E.) coli that can cause avian colibacillosis. The treatment with antibiotics favors the selection of multidrug-resistant bacteria and an alternative to this treatment is urgently required. A chicken model of intestinal colonization with an apathogenic model strain of E. coli was used to test if oral phage application can prevent or reduce the gut colonization of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli variants in two individual experiments. The E. coli strain E28 was used as a model strain, which could be differentiated from other E. coli strains colonizing the broiler gut, and was susceptible to all cocktail phages applied. In the first trial, a mixture of six phages was continuously applied via drinking water. No reduction of the model E. coli strain E28 occurred, but phage replication could be demonstrated. In the second trial, the applied mixture was limited to the four phages, which showed highest efficacy in vitro. E. coli colonization was reduced in this trial, but again, no reduction of the E. coli strain E28 was observed. The results of the trials presented here can improve the understanding of the effect of phages on single strains in the multi-strain microbiota of the chicken gut.Funding Information
- Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (AZ 32726/01)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (funding programme Open Access Publishing)
This publication has 54 references indexed in Scilit:
- Impact of a Single Phage and a Phage Cocktail Application in Broilers on Reduction of Campylobacter jejuni and Development of ResistancePLOS ONE, 2013
- T4-Like Phage Bp7, a Potential Antimicrobial Agent for Controlling Drug-Resistant Escherichia coli in ChickensApplied and Environmental Microbiology, 2013
- The Poultry-Associated Microbiome: Network Analysis and Farm-to-Fork CharacterizationsPLOS ONE, 2013
- Microplate-Test for the Rapid Determination of Bacteriophage-Susceptibility of Campylobacter Isolates—Development and ValidationPLOS ONE, 2013
- Virulent Bacteriophages Can Target O104:H4 Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli in the Mouse IntestineAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 2012
- On the interactions between virulent bacteriophages and bacteria in the gutBacteriophage, 2012
- A Brief History of the Antibiotic Era: Lessons Learned and Challenges for the FutureFrontiers in Microbiology, 2010
- Intestine and Environment of the Chicken as Reservoirs for Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli Strains with Zoonotic PotentialApplied and Environmental Microbiology, 2009
- Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli Strains of Avian and Human Origin: Link between Phylogenetic Relationships and Common Virulence PatternsJournal of Clinical Microbiology, 2007
- Colonization of the Respiratory Tract by a Virulent Strain of Avian Escherichia coli Requires Carriage of a Conjugative PlasmidInfection and Immunity, 2000