Understanding the chicken intestinal microbiome: towards a rational approach to feed-based interventions

了解肠道微生物组及其对健康的贡献是人类和动物健康的一个主要研究领域。鸡是英国所有牲畜中数量最多的，其肠道健康和肠道病原体（例如沙门氏菌和弯曲杆菌）感染具有特别的问题，所述肠道病原体影响动物的健康并且也可以通过食物传播给人类。以前，抗菌药物被用于促进生长和帮助减少肠道感染，但它们的使用在2006年在欧盟被禁止，并呼吁美国和其他国家效仿。包括益生菌在内的饲料添加剂被广泛用作抗菌药物的替代品，但它们的使用主要是经验性的，我们不知道它们如何影响微生物组以及随后对动物健康的影响。在这个项目中，我们将确定鸡的微生物组如何发展，以及它如何受到益生菌，饲料添加剂，遗传学和感染的影响。这一基础知识将允许更合理的方法来开发益生菌和饲料添加剂，以改善动物健康和生产力，同时减少抗菌剂的使用并降低食源性感染的风险。

Understanding the gut microbiome and its contribution to health is a major current research area in both human and animal health. Chickens, which are the most numerous of all livestock in the UK, have particular problems with gut health and infection of enteric pathogens such as Salmonella and Campylobacter that affect both the health of the animal and may also be transmitted via food to humans. Previously antimicrobials were used to promote growth and help reduce enteric infections, but their use was banned in the EU in 2006 and there are calls for the US and other countries to follow suit. Feed additives including probiotic bacteria are used extensively as an alternative to antimicrobial drugs but their use is largely empirical and we little idea how they impact on the microbiome and subsequently on the health of the animal. In this project we will determine how the microbiome of the chicken develops and how it is influenced by probiotics, feed additives, genetics and infection. This underpinning knowledge will allow a more rational approach to developing probiotics and feed additives that act to improve animal health and productivity whilst reducing the use of antimicrobials and reducing the risk of foodborne infection.