Altered microbiomes in bovine digital dermatitis lesions, and the gut as a pathogen reservoir.

ABSTRACT: Bovine digital dermatitis (DD) is the most important infectious disease associated with lameness in cattle worldwide. Since the disease was first described in 1974, a series of Treponema species concurrent with other microbes have been identified in DD lesions, suggesting a polymicrobial etiology. However, the pathogenesis of DD and the source of the causative microbes remain unclear. Here we characterized the microbiomes of healthy skin and skin lesions in dairy cows affected with different stages of DD and investigated the gut microbiome as a potential reservoir for microbes associated with this disease. Discriminant analysis revealed that the microbiomes of healthy skin, active DD lesions (ulcerative and chronic ulcerative) and inactive DD lesions (healing and chronic proliferative) are

SUBMITTER: Zinicola M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4362943 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature