Variability of the Sheep Lung Microbiota

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Animal Science
• Genomics

Background:

• The lungs were historically considered sterile, but recent sequencing reveals a resident bacterial community (lung microbiota) in healthy individuals.
• Understanding the variability of the lung microbiota is crucial, especially in animal models like sheep used for human respiratory disease research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the variability of the lung microbiota within and between healthy adult sheep.
• To explore spatial and temporal variations in sheep airway bacterial communities.

Main Methods:

• Protected specimen brush samples collected from different lung regions and at multiple time points from healthy adult sheep.
• Bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing (V2-V3 regions) using Illumina MiSeq.
• Sequence analysis with mothur and quantitative PCR for total bacterial DNA.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in bacterial communities were observed between different sampling sites within the same sheep lung.
• Some sheep lungs showed similar airway microbiota across sites, while others exhibited distinct communities.
• Spatial variability analysis revealed clustering of microbiota based on lung depth (distance from glottis).

Conclusions:

• Both host-related factors and local environmental influences significantly impact the composition of the sheep lung microbiota.
• The study highlights the complex interplay of factors contributing to lung microbiota variability in a large animal model.