Changes in the rumen and colon microbiota and effects of live yeast dietary supplementation during the transition from the dry period to lactation of dairy cows

To provide a comprehensive examination of the bacterial diversity in the rumen content of cows fed different diets, high-throughput 16S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing was used. Four rumen fistulated nonlactating Holstein cows received 12 kg of dry matter per day of four diets based on maize silage during four periods: the low-starch diet (22% starch, 3% fat); the high-starch diet, supplemented with wheat plus barley (35% starch, 3% fat); the low-starch plus oil diet, supplemented with 5% of sunflower oil (20% starch, 7.6% fat) and the high-starch plus oil diet (33% starch, 7.3% fat). Samples were taken after 12 days of adaptation, 5 h postfeeding. Whatever the diet, bacterial community of sieved rumen contents was dominated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Prevotellaceae, and Rikenellaceae families were highly present and were clearly affected by cow diet. The highest abundance of Prevotellaceae and the lowest abundance of Ruminococcaceae and Rikenellaceae were found with the high-starch plus oil diet. Dietary starch increased the relative abundance of only three genera: Barnesiella, Oribacterium and Olsenella, but decreased the relative abundances of several genera, with very significant effects for Rikenellaceae_RC9 and Butyrivibrio-Pseudobutyrivibrio. Oil alone had a limited effect, but interestingly, starch plus oil addition differently affected the bacterial populations compared to starch addition without oil. © 2012 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

A novel, strictly anaerobic, non-motile, non-spore-forming, Gram-negative, short, straight rod with tapered ends, designated YIT 12065(T), was isolated from human faeces. Strain YIT 12065(T) was saccharolytic and negative for catalase, oxidase and urease, hydrolysis of aesculin and gelatin, nitrate reduction and indole production. The end products of glucose fermentation were acetic acid and a small amount of butyric acid. The DNA G+C content was 51.3 mol%. The predominant fatty acids were iso-C(15:0), C(16:0) and C(14:0). Respiratory quinones were not detected. The cell wall contained glutamic acid, serine, alanine and ll-diaminopimelic acid. The whole-cell sugars were ribose, rhamnose, galactose and glucose. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences using three treeing algorithms revealed that the strain formed a novel family-level lineage within the phylum Firmicutes, class Clostridia, order Clostridiales. Caldicoprobacter oshimai JW/HY-331(T) was shown to be the closest named relative on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (86.9%), followed by Tindallia californiensis DSM 14871(T) (86.3%) and Clostridium ganghwense JCM 13193(T) (86.1%). Similar 16S rRNA gene sequences (98.6-96.7%) were found amongst faecal uncultured clones of human and dugong (Dugong dugon). They clustered with strain YIT 12065(T) in a distinct and deep evolutionary lineage of descent in the order Clostridiales. The distinct phylogenetic position supports the proposal of Christensenella gen. nov., with the type species Christensenella minuta sp. nov. (type strain YIT 12065(T) =DSM 22607(T) =JCM 16072(T)). A new family Christensenellaceae fam. nov. is also proposed.