Assistant Professor of Large Animal Surgery Texas A&M University College Station, Texas
Integration of Metabolome, Microbiome, and Exfoliome in an Equine Model of Intestinal Injury. Whitfield-Cargile C, Coleman M, Cohen N, Chamoun-Emanuelli A, Ivanov I, Gaynanova I, Chung H, Chapkin R. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
While many studies have characterized the equine microbiota in the context of various diseases, these changes have rarely been linked to intestinal function. Our objectives were to: 1) characterize intestinal gene expression profile and microbiomic (metabolome and microbiota) changes; and 2) apply novel computational data integration methods to examine host-microbiota interactions in the context of equine gastrointestinal inflammation. Twenty healthy horses were randomly assigned to two groups (n = 10 per group) control and phenylbutazone. Intestinal inflammation was induced with phenylbutazone (4.4 mg/kg PO q24h for 10 days). The microbiota, metabolome, and host transcriptome (exfoliome) were captured from feces collected on days 0 and 10. Data were analyzed and integrated using a variety of computational techniques. Phenylbutazone induced specific alterations in the microbiota, metabolome, and host transcriptome. Data integration identified crucial bacterial genera that altered expression of specific genes and metabolites. These data demonstrate the importance of inflammation-induced microbiota changes and, in turn, the fecal metabolome. The culmination of bacterial and metabolomic changes altered host gene expression in a manner that explains the pathophysiology underlying intestinal inflammation. Main limitations of this study include the use of a model of inflammation in healthy horses. In addition, exfoliomics were used to assay intestinal gene expression and these changes were not confirmed with traditional gene expression assays at the tissue level. This proof-of-principle work has broad implications in the field of equine gastroenterology and will increase our ability to identify specific metabolites and/or bacterial probiotics to impact equine GI health.