Livestock Gut Health Team Ghent

16/02/2022

𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒑𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒕!
Lore Van Damme, who recently defended her PhD, just published a paper on the role of sialidases in early pathogenesis of Necrotic enteritis in Poultry.
Read the full paper here!

Necrotic enteritis, caused by NetB producing Clostridium perfringens type G strains, is a globally important poultry disease. An initial step in the p…

28/08/2021

𝑰𝒏 𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒐 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝑩 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑪𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒔

Necrotic enteritis is an important enteric disease in poultry, caused by NetB-producing 𝘊. 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴 strains. As no straight-forward method to assess the NetB activity of 𝘊. 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴 was available, we developed an easy, high-throughput method to measure the NetB activity produced by 𝘊. 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴. Using this assay, we showed that strains that produce more severe disease in chickens, also show higher NetB activity in the lab. The developed activity assay allows us to screen novel 𝘊. 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴 isolates for their in vitro NetB activity, which could give valuable information on their disease-inducing potential, or identify molecules and (bacterial) metabolites that affect NetB expression and activity.

Find the full publication at:
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9081708

07/06/2021

👏🏼 PhD defence announcement! 👏🏼

Lore Van Damme will defend her dissertation, “𝑺𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑪. 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒔-𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔” on Tuesday, June 29 at 4pm.

Due to covid-19 restrictions, the defence will be online.
Everyone is welcome. If you wish to attend the defence, please send an email to [email protected] before Monday, June 28.

08/05/2021

We published a new paper "𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙪𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙨 29784 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙮𝙥𝙤𝙭𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙙". (https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/5/1335).

In poultry, Bacillus strains are widely used as feed additives to promote health. In the current study, we show that administration of a Bacillus strain to broiler chickens changes the microbial composition in the gut by reducing opportunistic pathogenic bacterial families and promoting beneficial bacterial families. We showed that two molecules, hypoxanthine and nicotinic acid, are produced by the Bacillus strain and are elevated in the intestinal tract of animals fed the probiotic. We hypothesize that nicotinic acid can be used by beneficial microbes and is essential for their intestinal colonization, and that both molecules can have a positive effect on the intestinal wall. These data can be used to evaluate and develop novel feed additives to promote health of chickens, and reduce the need for antibiotic usage.

03/05/2021

👏🏼 PhD defence announcement! 👏🏼

Evelien Dierick will defend her dissertation, “𝙉𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙨” on Wednesday, May 19 at 4pm.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the defence will be online. Everyone is welcome to attend after registration before Tuesday, May 18 at https://tinyurl.com/fmr3t94y.

29/04/2021

𝘾𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚 𝙂 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨: 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝘽 𝙩𝙤𝙭𝙞𝙣...

We published a new article providing more insight in the initial phases of disease pathogenesis of Necrotic enteritis in Poultry.

We discovered that pathogenic type G strains produce smaller collagenase enzymes than harmless type A strains. These smaller collagenases seem more efficient in the breakdown of collagen type IV, which is present in the epithelial basement membrane of the intestinal villi, and might so contribute to the initiation of the pathological process leading to necrotic enteritis.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.645248

21/04/2021

Tomorrow an interesting webinar on applications of omics technologies in poultry health and performance!

Still possible to register at https://www.ihsig.com/register-virtual-event-april-2021/

Prof. Ducatelle from LiGHT speaks, be there!