Publications by authors named "Bonnie P Weber"

Escherichia coli is a bacterium ubiquitous to the healthy intestinal microflora in animals. Some E. coli can cause disease in poultry, but disease manifestation is a result of the balance between stress level in the bird and the virulence potential of E.

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Article Synopsis
  • Escherichia coli sequence type 131 (ST131) is a global, drug-resistant pathogen with diverse subclones distinguished by specific genetic markers and resistance traits.
  • Researchers developed a multiplex PCR assay using a combination of 36 primers to detect and classify ST131 into 15 molecular subsets, outperforming current detection methods.
  • A command-line tool called ST131Typer was also created for those using whole genome sequencing, providing rapid and accurate subtyping for epidemiological studies and clinical applications.
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Porcine proliferative enteropathy remains one of the most prevalent diseases in swine herds worldwide. This disease is caused by , an intracellular bacterial pathogen that primarily colonizes the ileum. In this study, we evaluated changes to the microbiome of the ileal mucosa, ileal digesta, cecal digesta, and feces subsequent to challenge with and to an oral live vaccine against .

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Background: Microbiota development is a critical aspect of turkey poult maturation, and the succession of microbes in the turkey gut has been shown to correlate with poult performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the fate of the microbiota in turkey poults after movement of birds first raised in an isolated hatch brood system into a more traditional commercial brood facility with pre-existing birds. Turkey poults were first divided into groups raised in conventional brood pens from day-of-hatch and those raised in an experimental hatch brood system.

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Characterization of poultry microbiota is becoming increasingly important due to the growing need for microbiome-based interventions to improve poultry health and production performance. However, the lack of standardized protocols for sampling, sample processing, DNA extraction, sequencing, and bioinformatic analysis can hinder data comparison between studies. Here, we investigated how the DNA extraction process affects microbial community compositions and diversity metrics in different chicken respiratory sample types including choanal and tracheal swabs, nasal cavity and tracheal washes, and lower respiratory lavage.

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Two separate human outbreaks of serotype Reading occurred between 2017 and 2019 in the United States and Canada, and both outbreaks were linked to the consumption of raw turkey products. In this study, a comprehensive genomic investigation was conducted to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Reading from turkeys and to determine the genomic context of outbreaks involving this infrequently isolated serotype. A total of 988 isolates of U.

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Communities of gut bacteria (microbiota) are known to play roles in resistance to pathogen infection and optimal weight gain in turkey flocks. However, knowledge of turkey respiratory microbiota and its link to gut microbiota is lacking. This study presents a 16S rRNA gene-based census of the turkey respiratory microbiota (nasal cavity and trachea) alongside gut microbiota (cecum and ileum) in two identical commercial Hybrid Converter turkey flocks raised in parallel under typical field commercial conditions.

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is a causative agent of respiratory tract infections in avian hosts worldwide but is a particular problem for commercial turkey production. Little is known about the ecologic and evolutionary dynamics of , which makes prevention and control of this pathogen a challenge. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the genetic relationships between populations through comparative genomics of clinical isolates from different U.

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The microbiome is important to all animals, including poultry, playing a critical role in health and performance. Low-dose antibiotics have historically been used to modulate food production animals and their microbiome. Identifying alternatives to antibiotics conferring similar modulatory properties has been elusive.

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The digestive and respiratory tracts of chickens are colonized by bacteria that are believed to play important roles in the overall health and performance of the birds. Most of the current research on the commensal bacteria (microbiota) of chickens has focused on broilers and gut microbiota, and less attention has been given to layers and respiratory microbiota. This research bias has left significant gaps in our knowledge of the layer microbiome.

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