Cecotype

Equipe(s)
Agence de moyen
Etat
Titre du projet
Intensive genomic and phenotypic characterization of Enterococcus cecorum isolates
Name of the call for tenders
GISA
Coordinateur.trice
P. Serror (INRA, Micalis)
Participants de MaIAGE
V. Loux, A.-L. Abraham
Partners
INRA Micalis, INRA ISP, INRA URA
Beginning and end of the year
2018-2019
Year of end
Résumé
The increasing demand for chicken meat has led to intensive farming practices, which affect welfare and increase susceptibility to infectious diseases. Rising incidence of lameness in broilers due to infectious skeletal and leg disorders is responsible for important economic burden in poultry industry. Enterococcus cecorum is a primary cause of lameness resulting from spondylitis, known as kinky back; however, its physiopathology remains poorly understood, due to a lack of knowledge on this emerging pathogen. As a first step to unravel E. cecorum pathogenesis, CecoType aims to characterize E. cecorum clinical isolates. Based on isolates gathered over the last ten years, a large collection of E. cecorum isolates representative of ~15 farms will be constituted in addition to commensal and human clinical isolates (WP1). Whole genome sequencing and comparative genomics will be used to pinpoint specific metabolic and virulence genes (WP2). Susceptibility to serum, biofilm forming capacity and adhesion to chicken type II collagen will be quantified to infer fitness and virulence traits (WP3). Based on statistical integration and analysis of multivariate data (WP4), virulence of representative isolates will be further characterized using an embryonated egg model (WP3). CecoType will provide the first dataset of the genetic diversity of circulating E. cecorum strains among and within French broiler farms, and will bring the missing and relevant insights on the spreading and the pathobiology of this emerging and economically important pathogen.
Année de soumission
2017