Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-18-2025
Keywords
eDNA, gut microbiome, chicken, ceca, 16S rRNA gene, confocal fluorescence microscopy, DNase I
Abstract
The presence and biological role of extracellular DNA (eDNA) have been explored in diverse microbial environments. Nonetheless, it has not been studied in the chicken gut microbiome. This study aims to investigate eDNA in the chicken cecum, analyzing cecal samples from broiler chickens using three preparation methods: Whole Cecal Suspension (WCS), Washed Cell Pellets (WCP), and Cell-Free Supernatant (CFS). The 16S rRNA gene-based microbiota analysis revealed distinct microbial communities in CFS compared to WCS and WCP (p = 0.001). Notably, specific taxa, including Anaerofilum, Anaerotruncus, Oscillospira, Syntrophomonas, and Delftia, were enriched in CFS. Confocal fluorescence microscopy, employing stains such as Propidium Iodide (PI), GelGreen, and SYTO 9, confirmed the presence of eDNA with filaments observed in WCS and CFS. Colocalization of PI and GelGreen (TM) validated the extracellular nature of eDNA, while DNase I treatment selectively degraded eDNA, further confirming its extracellular nature. Our findings in this study highlight the presence of eDNA in the chicken cecal microbiome, and the presence of eDNA associated with specific taxonomic groups suggest that it might play a specific role in the biological function of the cecal microbiome, which warrants further investigation in the future.
Citation
Olubanjo, D.; Zbikowski, A.; Adhikari, B.; Jiang, T.; Singh, P.; Kang, S.W.; Kwon, Y.M. Extracellular DNA in the Chicken Cecal Environment. Poultry 2025, 4, 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/poultry4010014
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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