Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40148927›Full record

ArticleAnimal microbiome2025

Deep culturing the fecal microbiota of healthy laying hens.

Zhixuan Feng, Natalia Lorenc, Bridget O'Brien, Guangwen Sun, Zhiwei Li, Dongyun Jung, Jennifer Ronholm

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Animal microbiome, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Zhixuan FengFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Macdonald Campus, Mcgill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Natalia LorencFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Macdonald Campus, Mcgill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Bridget O'BrienFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Macdonald Campus, Mcgill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Guangwen SunFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Macdonald Campus, Mcgill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Zhiwei LiFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Macdonald Campus, Mcgill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Dongyun JungFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Macdonald Campus, Mcgill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Jennifer RonholmFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Macdonald Campus, Mcgill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. Jennifer.Ronholm@mcgill.ca.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe microbiota is implicated in several aspects of livestock health and disease. Understanding the structure and function of the poultry microbiota would be a valuable tool for improving their health and productivity since the microbiota can likely be optimized for metrics that are important to the industry such as improved feed conversion ratio, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and higher levels of competitive exclusion against pathogens. Most research into understanding the poultry microbiota has relied on culture-independent methods; however, the pure culture of bacteria is essential to elucidating the roles of individual bacteria in the microbiota and developing novel probiotic products for poultry production.

resultsIn this study, we have used a deep culturing approach consisting of 76 culture conditions to generate a culture collection of 1,240 bacterial isolates from healthy chickens. We then compared the taxonomy of cultured isolates to the taxonomic results of metagenomic sequencing to estimate what proportion of the microbiota was cultured. Metagenomic sequencing detected DNA from 545 bacterial species while deep culturing was able to produce isolates for 128 bacterial species. Some bacterial families, such as Comamonadaceae and Neisseriaceae were only detected via culturing - indicating that metagenomic analysis may not provide a complete taxonomic census of the microbiota. To further examine sub-species diversity in the poultry bacteriome, we whole genome sequenced 114 Escherichia coli isolates from 6 fecal samples and observed a great deal of diversity.

conclusionsDeep culturing and metagenomic sequencing approaches to examine the diversity of the microbiota within an individual will yield different results. In this project we generated a culture collection of enteric bacteria from healthy laying hens that can be used to further understand the role of specific commensals within the broader microbiota context and have made this collection available to the community. Isolates from this collection can be requested by contacting the corresponding author and will be provided at cost.

Indexed as

Deep culturingLayerLaying henMetagenomicsMicrobiotaPoultry

Identifiers

PMID40148927
PMCPMC11951684

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.