Weaning transition microbiota and blood types in pig. MicroBlood

The host-gut microbiota interplay is well recognized as a key factor for the homeostatic maintenance, for the pathological events control and for growth performances of the animals. The weaning transition represents a moment of drastic changes, which also have a strong impact on the gut microbial community leading to a high risk of dysbiotic events. The adhesion of bacteria on intestinal mucosa is mediated by molecules which compose the glycocalyx on epithelium surface and which act as specific receptors determining the structure of the mucosal bacterial community. Some of these receptors are the mucosal blood type antigens which are genetically determined in the host. The association between ABO blood groups and intestinal microbial profile has been tested in human with contrasting results. For the pig there are no studies on the relationship between blood groups and gut microbiota, however, in our previous study we reported some differences in the glycomic pattern of the jejunal mucosa and in the adhesion of E. coli, associated with the porcine blood groups A0. In the present study we followed the changes in faecal microbiota of piglets from the lactation to 2 weeks after weaning testing the hypothesis that the blood types may impact on its structure. No differences were reported for the A0 blood types. The metagenomic predictions revealed a shift from fatty acid degradation to fatty acid biosynthesis in bacterial community between pre- and post-weaning.