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

了解肠道微生物群及其对健康的贡献是当前人类和动物健康的一个主要研究领域。鸡是英国数量最多的牲畜，在肠道健康和肠道病原体(如沙门氏菌和弯曲杆菌)感染方面存在特殊问题，这些病原体既影响动物的健康，也可能通过食物传播给人类。此前，抗菌素被用来促进生长和帮助减少肠道感染，但2006年欧盟禁止使用抗菌素，有人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上的，我们很少知道它们如何影响微生物群并随后影响动物的健康。在这个项目中，我们将确定鸡的微生物群是如何发展的，以及益生菌、饲料添加剂、遗传学和感染如何影响它。这些基础知识将使开发益生菌和饲料添加剂的方法更加合理，这些益生菌和饲料添加剂可改善动物健康和生产力，同时减少抗菌剂的使用，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.