Unravelling Enterococcus cecorum infection on UK broiler farms: correlating clinical signs with genomics, persistence and animal behaviour.

解开英国肉鸡养殖场的盲肠肠球菌感染：将临床症状与基因组学、持久性和动物行为相关联。

• 批准号: BB/W020491/1
• 负责人: Muna Anjum
• 金额: $ 25.59万
• 依托单位: ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH AGENCY
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FW020491%2F1
• 关键词: Unravelling; Enterococcus; cecorum; infection; UK

Endemic disease such as lameness that may lead to paralysis and death in broiler chickens presents considerable welfare problems, it leads to significant antimicrobial usage and results in substantive economic losses for the broiler industry both within the United Kingdom and worldwide. Enterococcus cecorum, an emerging pathogen, has become associated with infections in affected poultry flocks in the British Broiler Industry. However, little is known about how this commensal has evolved to become a pathogen due to E. cecorum genomics being in its infancy. The environmental reservoir(s) that it occupies which results in apparently sporadic disease occurrence within poultry flocks is also unknown, and no close monitoring is being performed of animal behaviour to determine if any subtle changes occur during the early stages of infection before disease progression and gross physical changes that are associated with lameness becomes apparent. Therefore, in this transformational proof-of concept proposal we aim to fill current knowledge gaps by bringing together a unique and highly skilled project team from diverse backgrounds, gathered through the BBSRC Endemics Livestock Disease Initiative workshops for Priming Partnerships. Through our multi-disciplinary partnership, we will endeavour to lay foundations in the first year of research that will help improve the health and welfare of broiler chickens, so lameness and paralysis due to E. cecorum infection can be detected early, which will also help reduce antimicrobial usage during treatment and more successful treatment outcomes will help prevent large economic losses for farmers and the broiler industry.In this ambitious multi-pronged study, there will be three main components: pathogens genomics; transmission/persistence; and animal behaviour monitoring. Isolate genomics will help advance our understanding of E. cecorum pathogens. By performing detailed molecular characterisation, we will identify any genetic elements that have been acquired via transfer of mobile genes from other bacteria, particularly those living in the same environmental niche, resulting in increased virulence and a propensity of this bacterium, once a commensal, to cause endemic disease in poultry. Linkage of genes that cause resistance to antimicrobials, with key virulence determinants present in pathogenic variants, will help identify markers associated with pathogenic isolates that can be used for rapid detection on farms in future, using pen-side tests. In addition, groups of isolates found to be enriched with particular virulence elements that are from the same genetic lineages, will enable detection of E. cecorum types or clones associated with diseased birds in Great Britain. For identification of environmental reservoirs that enable transmission and persistence on farm, our plan is to perform in-depth sampling of surfaces, litter and water in positive houses and a negative control, at different periods of the production cycle, from five farms. An E. cecorum specific PCR will help identify presence, which will be verified in a subset by culture. Survival experiments will help distinguish how well E. cecorum survives in water, concrete and plastic that are common in poultry houses and part of our sampling protocol, especially upon exposure to biocides. Video sensors and associated analytical tools are an excellent way for monitoring animal behaviour closely, including detecting any subtle changes. By installing sensors on a subset of the farms and houses where environmental sampling will be performed, we will be able to use artificial intelligence to monitor flock performance and identify deviations from parameters such as climatic conditions, bird growth and water consumption. Deviations in infected flocks, will be verified by veterinary inspections and any correlation between early changes in behaviour and infection will be incorporated into future algorithms to help detect disease early.

诸如肉鸡鸡的瘫痪和死亡之类的地方性疾病带来了相当大的福利问题，这会导致大量的抗菌素使用，并导致英国和全球范围内的肉鸡行业实质性经济损失。新兴的病原体肠球菌已与英国肉鸡行业受影响的家禽羊群的感染有关。然而，由于盲肠基因组学已经处于起步阶段，这种共同体如何发展成为病原体。它占据的环境储层也未知，导致家禽羊群内显然发生零星的疾病发生，并且没有对动物行为进行密切监测，以确定在疾病进展和严重变化的疾病进展和与层次相关的严重变化之前是否发生任何微妙的变化，与la依。因此，在这项转变的概念概念建议中，我们旨在通过将来自不同背景的独特且高技能的项目团队汇总到通过BBSRC选拔赛牲畜疾病计划研讨会来填补当前知识差距。通过我们的多学科伙伴关系，我们将努力在研究的第一年中奠定基础，这将有助于改善肉鸡的健康和福利，因此可以尽早发现盲肠感染而引起的la鼠和瘫痪，这也可以帮助您在治疗过程中减少抗药性，并有助于减少对大型经济损失的较高的抗药性，使得众多损失的损失。研究，将有三个主要组成部分：病原体基因组学；传输/持久性；和动物行为监测。分离基因组学将有助于提高我们对盲肠大肠杆菌病原体的理解。通过执行详细的分子表征，我们将确定通过从其他细菌中移动基因转移获得的任何遗传因素，尤其是生活在同一环境中的细菌的遗传因素，从而导致毒力增加，并且曾经是一种通心的细菌倾向，以引起家禽中的特有疾病。引起抗菌素抗性的基因与致病性变体中存在的关键毒力决定因素的连接，将有助于鉴定与致病性分离株相关的标记物，这些标志物在将来使用笔侧测试，可用于在将来对农场进行快速检测。此外，被发现富含来自同一遗传谱系的特定毒力元素的一组分离株将能够检测到英国与患病鸟类相关的盲肠类型或克隆。为了鉴定能够在农场传播和持久性的环境储层，我们的计划是在五个农场的不同时期内对积极房屋中的表面，垃圾和水进行深入采样。盲肠特异性PCR将有助于识别存在，这将通过培养物在子集中进行验证。生存实验将有助于区分剖腹产的盲肠，混凝土和塑料中的生存状况，在家禽房中和我们采样方案的一部分，尤其是在暴露于杀害剂时。视频传感器和相关的分析工具是密切监视动物行为的绝佳方法，包括检测任何微妙的变化。通过在将进行环境采样的农场和房屋子集上安装传感器，我们将能够使用人工智能监测羊群性能并确定与气候条件，鸟类生长和水消耗等参数的偏差。感染羊群的偏差将通过兽医检查来验证，行为和感染的早期变化之间的任何相关性将纳入将来的算法，以帮助早日检测疾病。