Differences in composition of interdigital skin microbiota predict sheep and feet that develop footrot

Clifton, Rachel; Monaghan, Emma M.; Green, Martin J.; Purdy, Kevin J.; Green, Laura E.

Abstract

Footrot has a major impact on health and productivity of sheep worldwide. The current paradigm for footrot pathogenesis is that physical damage to the interdigital skin (IDS) facilitates invasion of the essential pathogen Dichelobacter nodosus. The composition of the IDS microbiota is different in healthy and diseased feet, so an alternative hypothesis is that changes in the IDS microbiota facilitate footrot. We investigated the composition and diversity of the IDS microbiota of ten sheep, five that did develop footrot and five that did not (healthy) at weekly intervals for 20 weeks. The IDS microbiota was less diverse on sheep 2 + weeks before they developed footrot than on healthy sheep. This change could be explained by only seven of > 2000 bacterial taxa detected. The incubation period of footrot is 8–10 days, and there was a further reduction in microbial diversity on feet that developed footrot in that incubation period. We conclude that there are two stages of dysbiosis in footrot: the first predisposes sheep to footrot and the second occurs in feet during the incubation of footrot. These findings represent a step change in our understanding of the role of the IDS microbiota in footrot pathogenesis.

Citation

Clifton, R., Monaghan, E. M., Green, M. J., Purdy, K. J., & Green, L. E. (2022). Differences in composition of interdigital skin microbiota predict sheep and feet that develop footrot. Scientific Reports, 12, Article 8931. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-12772-7

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 12, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 27, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: Jul 31, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 31, 2023
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Article Number: 8931
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-12772-7
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/23567557
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-12772-7
• PMID: 35624131
• Additional Information: Received: 17 December 2021; Accepted: 12 May 2022; First Online: 27 May 2022; : The authors declare no competing interests.