Alteration of the gut microbiota in post-weaned calves following recovery from bovine coronavirus-mediated diarrhea

Min-Sung Kwon; Hee Eun Jo; Jieun Lee; Kyoung-Seong Choi; Dohyeon Yu; Yeon-Su Oh; Jinho Park; Hak-Jong Choi

doi:10.5187/jast.2021.e20

Alteration of the gut microbiota in post-weaned calves following recovery from bovine coronavirus-mediated diarrhea

J Anim Sci Technol. 2021 Jan;63(1):125-136. doi: 10.5187/jast.2021.e20. Epub 2021 Jan 31.

Authors

Min-Sung Kwon¹, Hee Eun Jo^{1

2}, Jieun Lee¹, Kyoung-Seong Choi³, Dohyeon Yu⁴, Yeon-Su Oh⁵, Jinho Park⁶, Hak-Jong Choi¹

Affiliations

¹ Research and Development Division, World Institute of Kimchi, Gwangju 61755, Korea.
² Department of Microbiology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju 61468, Korea.
³ College of Ecology and Environmental Science, Kyungpook National University, Sangju 37224, Korea.
⁴ College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Korea.
⁵ College of Veterinary Medicine and Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea.
⁶ College of Veterinary Medicine, Jeonbuk National University, Iksan 54596, Korea.

Abstract

Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) is associated with severe diarrhea, dehydration, and depression, which result in significant economic damages in the dairy and beef cattle industries worldwide. However, differences in the gut microbiota structure and their correlations with differing physiological parameters between BCoV-infected calves with diarrhea and recovered calves are not well understood. In this study, fecal specimens were collected from 10 post-weaned calves, before and after 2 months of fluid therapy, and the samples were used for microbiota analysis. Following recovery, the alpha-diversity profiles (observed operational taxonomic units [OTUs], and Chao1, Shannon, and Simpson indices) changed significantly when compared with those of calves with diarrhea. Beta-diversity analysis exhibited significant differences in gut microbiota compositions between calves with diarrhea and those in the recovered state. The abundances of eight phyla and thirteen genera in feces changed markedly after restoration of BCoV diarrhea. In addition, our correlation study clearly revealed that increased abundances of the genera Caproiciproducens, Pseudoflavonifractor, and Oscillibacter negatively correlated with serum glucose, and phosphorus levels, but positively correlated with serum chloride in calves with diarrhea, whereas increased abundances of the genera Peptostreptococcaceae;Clostridium (Clostridium cluster XI), Intestinibacter, Cellulosilyticum, Ruminococcus, Romboutsia, Paeniclostridium, Clostridiaceae;Clostridium and Turicibacter in recovered calves showed the opposite pattern. These results suggest that structural changes of the gut microbiota after recovery from BCoV infection correlate with changes in physiological parameters. In conclusion, our data provide evidence of gut microbiota-composition changes and their correlations with the physical profiles of post-weaned calves, before and after fluid therapy for BCoV-related diarrhea.

Keywords: Bovine coronavirus; Gut microbiota; Physiological parameters; Post-weaned calf.