Authors: Bennegadi N.¹; Fonty G.²; Millet L.²; Gidenne T.¹; Licois D.³

Source: Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease, Volume 15, Number 1, January 1999 , pp. 23-32(10)

Publisher: Informa Healthcare

Abstract:

Caecal community structure in conventional and specific pathogen-free (SPF) rabbits was assessed by performing dot-blot hybridization with 16S rRNA targeted oligonucleotide probes. The variation of the caecal flora was analysed according to age (18-70 days old), nutritional status (acid detergent fibre=19% in standard and 9% in fibre-deficient diet) and rabbit health (healthy vs diarrhoeic). Caecal flora was stabilized at around 25-28 days. Bacteria and archaea represented 73% and 22%, respectively, of the total microbial communities at weaning (28 days). Cellulolytic bacteria (Ruminococcus albus, R. flavefaciens, Fibrobacter succinogenes and F. intestinalis) represented <7% of total bacteria, with a predominance of R. flavefaciens and R. albus, respectively, for conventional and SPF rabbits. Bacterial and archaeal rRNAs were twofold higher in conventional than in SPF rabbits, fed standard diet (p<0.001). In conventional rabbits, archaeal community was twofold higher with standard diet than with fibre-deficient diet. In both types of rabbits, quantities of Flexibacter-Cytophaga-Bacteroides rRNA were twofold higher with fibre-deficient diet than with standard diet. In diarrhoeic conventional rabbits, the proportion of eukaryal rRNA increased 4-fold, but proportions of bacterial and archaeal rRNA decreased by 1-, 2- and 6-fold, respectively. The quantities of rRNA of F. succinogenes and F. intestinalis in conventional rabbits were, respectively 17 and 5 times higher in sick than in healthy animals, and decreased by 7-fold for R. albus. This study shows some microbial interactions according to nutrition and health of the rabbit.

Keywords: rabbit; caecal flora; fibre deficiency; oligonucleotide probes; enteropathy; specific pathogen-free; microbial community balance

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08910600310015574

Affiliations: 1: Station de Recherches Cunicoles INRA CR Toulouse, BP 27 31326 Castanet-Tolosan 2: Laboratoire de Microbiologie INRA CR Clermont-Ferrand, Theix 63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle 3: Laboratoire de Pathologie du Lapin Station de Pathologie Aviaire et de Parasitologie, INRA CR Tours 37380 Nouzilly

Publication date: 1999-01-01

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