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Updated: Aug 26, 2025
Non-Invasive Model of Neuropathogenic Escherichia coli Infection in the Neonatal Rat
Published on: October 29, 2014
Early life dynamics of ARG and MGE associated with intestinal virome in neonatal piglets
Ruiting Wu1, Ze Cao1, Yiming Jiang2
1Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, Guangdong, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, China; National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Livestock Breeding, Guangzhou 510642, Guangdong, China.
Abstract:
The pre- and post-weaning stages for piglets are critical periods for the maturation of intestinal functions and contamination with antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens will threaten their intestinal health. The presence of bacteriophage can also alter bacterial populations in the intestine but whether transmission of antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) is affected by phage during maturation of the neonatal piglet intestine is not known. We therefore identified the intestinal virome along with ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGE) from piglet fecal samples collected from 3 to 28 days representing the different growth stages. We found wide fluctuations for the intestinal virome of weaning piglets and most virus - related antibiotic resistance was derived from temperate phage suggesting a reservoir of multidrug resistance was present in the neonatal porcine gut. Our results provide a comprehensive understanding of ARGs associated with the intestinal virome that therefore represents a potential risk for horizontal ARG transfer to pathogenic bacteria.
