In dairy goats, variability in teat conformation is often observed, such as the presence of the so-called "weeping teats". This trait, observed in goat breeds selected for high milk production, is characterised by the presence of milk-secreting tissue in the wall of the teat where the milk can pass through skin pores out to the external epithelial surface and be released onto the skin surface, resulting in a "weeping teat". The aim of the study is to characterize the milk microbiota composition of the abnormal trait "weeping teats" in Italian Saanen and Alpine goats in order to understand the effect of this trait on the milk microbiome. For the characterization of the milk microbiota by 16S rRNA-gene sequencing, milk samples were aseptically collected from three different herds for a total of 46 weeping-teats and 32 normal teats. Bacterial DNA was extracted by using an internal laboratory protocol (Cremonesi et al., Plos One, 2018), then amplified using the primers for the V3-V4 hypervariable regions and sequenced in one MiSeq (Illumina) run with 2×250-base paired-end reads. On average, 97098 reads per sample were obtained: after quality filtering (Phred > 19), 68.3% of the reads were retained for subsequent analysis. After removing OTUs with <= 10 counts in <= 2 samples, a total of 6675 OTUs were detected. The milk microbiota was dominated by the phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria, with little differences between weeping and normal teats (e.g. 46% vs 42% Firmicutes, 26% vs 29% Proteobacteria, 16.7% vs 16.9% Actinobacteria, respectively). Alpha diversity metrics were very similar between weeping and normal teats, with no comparison showing a significant difference.
Effect of Weeping teats on Milk Microbiome in Goats
Paola Cremonesi;Stefano Biffani;Filippo Biscarini;
2019
Abstract
In dairy goats, variability in teat conformation is often observed, such as the presence of the so-called "weeping teats". This trait, observed in goat breeds selected for high milk production, is characterised by the presence of milk-secreting tissue in the wall of the teat where the milk can pass through skin pores out to the external epithelial surface and be released onto the skin surface, resulting in a "weeping teat". The aim of the study is to characterize the milk microbiota composition of the abnormal trait "weeping teats" in Italian Saanen and Alpine goats in order to understand the effect of this trait on the milk microbiome. For the characterization of the milk microbiota by 16S rRNA-gene sequencing, milk samples were aseptically collected from three different herds for a total of 46 weeping-teats and 32 normal teats. Bacterial DNA was extracted by using an internal laboratory protocol (Cremonesi et al., Plos One, 2018), then amplified using the primers for the V3-V4 hypervariable regions and sequenced in one MiSeq (Illumina) run with 2×250-base paired-end reads. On average, 97098 reads per sample were obtained: after quality filtering (Phred > 19), 68.3% of the reads were retained for subsequent analysis. After removing OTUs with <= 10 counts in <= 2 samples, a total of 6675 OTUs were detected. The milk microbiota was dominated by the phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria, with little differences between weeping and normal teats (e.g. 46% vs 42% Firmicutes, 26% vs 29% Proteobacteria, 16.7% vs 16.9% Actinobacteria, respectively). Alpha diversity metrics were very similar between weeping and normal teats, with no comparison showing a significant difference.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
