Supplemental N-acyl homoserine lactonase alleviates intestinal disruption and improves gut microbiota in broilers challenged by Salmonella Typhimurium

Weiwei Wang; Jingseng Ou; Hui Ye; Qingyun Cao; Changming Zhang; Zemin Dong; Dingyuan Feng; Jianjun Zuo

doi:10.1186/s40104-022-00801-4

Supplemental N-acyl homoserine lactonase alleviates intestinal disruption and improves gut microbiota in broilers challenged by Salmonella Typhimurium

J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2023 Jan 9;14(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s40104-022-00801-4.

Authors

Weiwei Wang¹, Jingseng Ou¹, Hui Ye¹, Qingyun Cao¹, Changming Zhang¹, Zemin Dong¹, Dingyuan Feng¹, Jianjun Zuo²

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition Control, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, People's Republic of China.
² Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition Control, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, People's Republic of China. zuoj@scau.edu.cn.

Abstract

Background: Salmonella Typhimurium challenge causes a huge detriment to chicken production. N-acyl homoserine lactonase (AHLase), a quorum quenching enzyme, potentially inhibits the growth and virulence of Gram-negative bacteria. However, it is unknown whether AHLase can protect chickens against S. Typhimurium challenge. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of AHLase on growth performance and intestinal health in broilers challenged by S. Typhimurium. A total of 240 one-day-old female crossbred broilers (817C) were randomly divided into 5 groups (6 replicates/group): negative control (NC), positive control (PC), and PC group supplemented with 5, 10 or 20 U/g AHLase. All birds except those in NC were challenged with S. Typhimurium from 7 to 9 days of age. All parameters related to growth and intestinal health were determined on d 10 and 14.

Results: The reductions (P < 0.05) in body weight (BW) and average daily gain (ADG) in challenged birds were alleviated by AHLase addition especially at 10 U/g. Thus, samples from NC, PC and PC plus 10 U/g AHLase group were selected for further analysis. S. Typhimurium challenge impaired (P < 0.05) intestinal morphology, elevated (P < 0.05) ileal inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and IL-8) expression, and increased (P < 0.05) serum diamine oxidase (DAO) activity on d 10. However, AHLase addition normalized these changes. Gut microbiota analysis on d 10 showed that AHLase reversed the reductions (P < 0.05) in several beneficial bacteria (e.g. Bacilli, Bacillales and Lactobacillales), along with increases (P < 0.05) in certain harmful bacteria (e.g. Proteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae and Escherichia/Shigella) in PC group. Furthermore, AHLase-induced increased beneficial bacteria and decreased harmful bacteria were basically negatively correlated (P < 0.05) with the reductions of ileal IL-1β and IL-8 expression and serum DAO activity, but positively correlated (P < 0.05) with the increased BW and ADG. Functional prediction revealed that AHLase abolished S. Typhimurium-induced upregulations (P < 0.05) of certain pathogenicity-related pathways such as lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis, shigellosis, bacterial invasion of epithelial cells and pathogenic Escherichia coli infection of gut microbiota.

Conclusions: Supplemental AHLase attenuated S. Typhimurium-induced growth retardation and intestinal disruption in broilers, which could be associated with the observed recovery of gut microbiota dysbiosis.

Keywords: Broiler; Growth performance; Gut microbiota; Intestinal inflammation; N-acyl homoserine lactonase; Quorum quenching; Salmonella Typhimurium.

Abstract

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