The diversity of coliphages and coliforms in horse feces reveals a complex pattern of ecological interactions.
Abstract: The diversity of coliphages and indigenous coliform strains (ICSs) simultaneously present in horse feces was investigated by culture-based and molecular methods. The richness of coliforms (as estimated by the Chao1 method) is about 1,000 individual ICSs distinguishable by genomic fingerprinting present in a single sample of feces. This unexpectedly high value indicates that some factor limits the competition of coliform bacteria in the horse gut microbial system. In contrast, the diversity of phages active against any selected ICS is generally limited to one to three viral genotypes present in the sample. The sensitivities of different ICSs to simultaneously present coliphages overlap only slightly; the phages isolated from the same sample on different ICSs are usually unrelated. As a result, the titers of phages in fecal extract as determined for different Escherichia coli strains and ICSs may differ by several orders of magnitude. Summarizing all the data, we propose that coliphage infection may provide a selection pressure that maintains the high level of coliform diversity, restricting the possibility of a few best competitors outgrowing other ICSs. We also observed high-magnitude temporal variations of coliphage titers as determined using an E. coli C600 test culture in the same animal during a 16-day period of monitoring. No correlation with total coliform count was observed. These results are in good agreement with our hypothesis.
Publication Date: 2007-08-17 PubMed ID: 17704275PubMed Central: PMC2075005DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01145-07Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.
This research paper investigates the diversity of viruses (coliphages) that infect bacteria and the bacteria (coliforms) that are naturally found in horse feces. The researchers propose that viral infection could be a factor that helps maintain the high diversity of bacteria in horse guts, by stopping any single type of bacteria from becoming too dominant.
About the Research
- The study focuses on the diversity of both coliphages and coliforms present in horse feces. Coliphages are viruses that infect coliform bacteria. These coliforms are part of the natural gut microbiota of horses.
- The authors used both traditional culture methods and modern molecular techniques to investigate the diversity and richness of these entities.
Key Findings
- The authors found that the number of individual bacterial strains, estimated using a mathematical method called the Chao1, is surprisingly large – about 1000 per sample. This finding implies that something prevents these strains from competing with each other and taking over the gut system in horses.
- On the other hand, the number of viral genotypes that can infect a given bacterial strain is quite limited, usually between one and three per sample.
- Interestingly, the authors also found that the sensitivity of different bacterial strains to the viruses present in the same sample overlap minimally. In other words, the viruses isolated from the same sample, but using different bacterial strains, are usually unrelated.
- As a result, the concentration (titer) of viruses as determined for different bacterial strains can differ hugely, by several orders of magnitude.
Proposed Hypothesis and Implications
- Based on these results, the authors propose that the existence of these bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) may provide a selection pressure that maintains the high level of bacterial diversity in the horse gut.
- This mechanism works by potentially restricting the opportunity for a few highly competitive bacterial strains from outcompeting other strains.
- The researchers also found that the viral titers, determined using a specific strain of E. coli, varied significantly over a 16-day period. However, this variation was not related to the total amount of coliforms present.
- This hypothesis supports the observed uncorrelated variation in coliform counts and coliphage titers, and consolidates the idea of coliphages as potential regulators of bacterial diversity.
Cite This Article
APA
Golomidova A, Kulikov E, Isaeva A, Manykin A, Letarov A.
(2007).
The diversity of coliphages and coliforms in horse feces reveals a complex pattern of ecological interactions.
Appl Environ Microbiol, 73(19), 5975-5981.
https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01145-07 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- S. N. Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology RAS, prospekt 60-letiya Oktyabrya, 7/2, Moscow 117312, Russia.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Biodiversity
- Coliphages / classification
- Coliphages / isolation & purification
- Coliphages / ultrastructure
- Colony Count, Microbial
- Environmental Monitoring
- Escherichia coli / isolation & purification
- Feces / virology
- Horses / virology
- Molecular Sequence Data
References
This article includes 35 references
- Alexander F, Davies ME, Muir AR. Bacteriophage-like particles in the large intestine of the horse.. Res Vet Sci 1970 Nov;11(6):592-3.
- Bergh O, Børsheim KY, Bratbak G, Heldal M. High abundance of viruses found in aquatic environments.. Nature 1989 Aug 10;340(6233):467-8.
- Boyd EF, Hartl DL. Nonrandom location of IS1 elements in the genomes of natural isolates of Escherichia coli.. Mol Biol Evol 1997 Jul;14(7):725-32.
- Breitbart M, Hewson I, Felts B, Mahaffy JM, Nulton J, Salamon P, Rohwer F. Metagenomic analyses of an uncultured viral community from human feces.. J Bacteriol 2003 Oct;185(20):6220-3.
- Calci KR, Burkhardt W 3rd, Watkins WD, Rippey SR. Occurrence of male-specific bacteriophage in feral and domestic animal wastes, human feces, and human-associated wastewaters.. Appl Environ Microbiol 1998 Dec;64(12):5027-9.
- Cann AJ, Fandrich SE, Heaphy S. Analysis of the virus population present in equine faeces indicates the presence of hundreds of uncharacterized virus genomes.. Virus Genes 2005 Mar;30(2):151-6.
- Caugant DA, Levin BR, Selander RK. Genetic diversity and temporal variation in the E. coli population of a human host.. Genetics 1981 Jul;98(3):467-90.
- Chao A. Nonparametric estimation of the number of classes in population. Scand. J. Stat. 11:265-270.
- Chibani-Chennoufi S, Bruttin A, Dillmann ML, Brüssow H. Phage-host interaction: an ecological perspective.. J Bacteriol 2004 Jun;186(12):3677-86.
- Cornax R, Moriñigo MA, Gonzalez-Jaen F, Alonso MC, Borrego JJ. Bacteriophages presence in human faeces of healthy subjects and patients with gastrointestinal disturbances.. Zentralbl Bakteriol 1994 Aug;281(2):214-24.
- Daly K, Stewart CS, Flint HJ, Shirazi-Beechey SP. Bacterial diversity within the equine large intestine as revealed by molecular analysis of cloned 16S rRNA genes. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 38:141-151.
- d'Herelle F. La bactériophage: son rôle dans l'immunité. .
- Dhillon TS, Dhillon EK, Chau HC, Li WK, Tsang AH. Studies on bacteriophage distribution: virulent and temperate bacteriophage content of mammalian feces.. Appl Environ Microbiol 1976 Jul;32(1):68-74.
- Filippini M, Buesing N, Bettarel Y, Sime-Ngando T, Gessner MO. Infection paradox: high abundance but low impact of freshwater benthic viruses.. Appl Environ Microbiol 2006 Jul;72(7):4893-8.
- Fischer UR, Wieltschnig C, Kirschner AK, Velimirov B. Does virus-induced lysis contribute significantly to bacterial mortality in the oxygenated sediment layer of shallow oxbow lakes?. Appl Environ Microbiol 2003 Sep;69(9):5281-9.
- Furuse K, Osawa S, Kawashiro J, Tanaka R, Ozawa A, Sawamura S, Yanagawa Y, Nagao T, Watanabe I. Bacteriophage distribution in human faeces: continuous survey of healthy subjects and patients with internal and leukaemic diseases.. J Gen Virol 1983 Sep;64 (Pt 9):2039-43.
- Havelaar AH, Furuse K, Hogeboom WM. Bacteriophages and indicator bacteria in human and animal faeces.. J Appl Bacteriol 1986 Mar;60(3):255-62.
- Hintz HF, Cymbaluk NF. Nutrition of the horse.. Annu Rev Nutr 1994;14:243-67.
- Johnson LK, Brown MB, Carruthers EA, Ferguson JA, Dombek PE, Sadowsky MJ. Sample size, library composition, and genotypic diversity among natural populations of Escherichia coli from different animals influence accuracy of determining sources of fecal pollution.. Appl Environ Microbiol 2004 Aug;70(8):4478-85.
- Kulikova EE, Isaeva AS, Rotkina AS, Manykin AA, Letarov AV. [Diversity and dynamics of bacteriophages in horse feces].. Mikrobiologiia 2007 Mar-Apr;76(2):271-8.
- Lane DJ. 16S/23S rRNA sequencing. p. 115-147. In E. Stackebrandt and M. Goodfellow (ed.), Nucleic acid techniques in bacterial systematics. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, United Kingdom.
- Muniesa M, Mocé-Llivina L, Katayama H, Jofre J. Bacterial host strains that support replication of somatic coliphages.. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 2003;83(4):305-15.
- Poulsen LK, Licht TR, Rang C, Krogfelt KA, Molin S. Physiological state of Escherichia coli BJ4 growing in the large intestines of streptomycin-treated mice.. J Bacteriol 1995 Oct;177(20):5840-5.
- Proctor LM. Advances in the study of marine viruses.. Microsc Res Tech 1997 Apr 15;37(2):136-61.
- Proctor LM, Fuhrman JA. Viral mortality of marine bacteria and cyanobacteria. Nature 343:60-62.
- Sambrook J, Fritsch EF, Maniatis T. Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual, vol. 1 to 3. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY.
- Sawyer SA, Dykhuizen DE, DuBose RF, Green L, Mutangadura-Mhlanga T, Wolczyk DF, Hartl DL. Distribution and abundance of insertion sequences among natural isolates of Escherichia coli.. Genetics 1987 Jan;115(1):51-63.
- Stephen AM, Cummings JH. The microbial contribution to human faecal mass.. J Med Microbiol 1980 Feb;13(1):45-56.
- Tétart F, Desplats C, Kutateladze M, Monod C, Ackermann HW, Krisch HM. Phylogeny of the major head and tail genes of the wide-ranging T4-type bacteriophages.. J Bacteriol 2001 Jan;183(1):358-66.
- Tétart F, Repoila F, Monod C, Krisch HM. Bacteriophage T4 host range is expanded by duplications of a small domain of the tail fiber adhesin.. J Mol Biol 1996 May 24;258(5):726-31.
- van Hannen EJ, Zwart G, van Agterveld MP, Gons HJ, Ebert J, Laanbroek HJ. Changes in bacterial and eukaryotic community structure after mass lysis of filamentous cyanobacteria associated with viruses.. Appl Environ Microbiol 1999 Feb;65(2):795-801.
- Vriesema-Magnuson C, Oot R, Dutta G, Raya R, Brabban A, Kutter E. The history and future of nascent phage. First Texas-Evergreen Phage/Virus Genomics and Ecology Meeting, abstr. 16.
- Weinbauer MG. Ecology of prokaryotic viruses.. FEMS Microbiol Rev 2004 May;28(2):127-81.
- WOLLMAN EL, STENT GS. Studies on activation of T4 bacteriophage by cofactor. IV. Nascent activity.. Biochim Biophys Acta 1952 Nov;9(5):538-50.
- Yang HH, Vinopal RT, Grasso D, Smets BF. High diversity among environmental Escherichia coli isolates from a bovine feedlot.. Appl Environ Microbiol 2004 Mar;70(3):1528-36.
Citations
This article has been cited 39 times.Use Nutrition Calculator
Check if your horse's diet meets their nutrition requirements with our easy-to-use tool Check your horse's diet with our easy-to-use tool
Talk to a Nutritionist
Discuss your horse's feeding plan with our experts over a free phone consultation Discuss your horse's diet over a phone consultation
Submit Diet Evaluation
Get a customized feeding plan for your horse formulated by our equine nutritionists Get a custom feeding plan formulated by our nutritionists
