Occurrence of Colibacillosis in Broilers and Its Relationship With Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) Population Structure and Molecular Characteristics.

ABSTRACT: Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) causes colibacillosis, the disease with the highest economic loss for the broiler industry. However, studies focusing on the prevalence and population structure of APEC in the broiler production pyramid are scarce. Here, we used genotyping and serotyping data to elucidate the APEC population structure and its changes in different broiler production stages along with whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in a subset of APEC isolates to determine transmission patterns amongst dominant APEC sequence types (STs) and characterize them in detail. Comparison of genotypes encountered in both APEC and avian fecal E. coli (AFEC) provided further insights. Overall, APEC-related mortality, as the proportion of the total sampled mortality in the broiler pr

SUBMITTER: Apostolakos I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8456121 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature