title: Transgenic milk containing recombinant human lactoferrin modulates the intestinal flora in piglets.
abstract: Lactoferrin (LF) is a beneficial multifunctional protein in milk. The objective of this study was to determine whether bovine transgenic milk containing recombinant human lactoferrin (rhLF) can modulate intestinal flora in the neonatal pig as an animal model for the human infant. We fed 7-day-old piglets (i) ordinary whole milk (OM), (ii) a 1:1 mixture of OM and rhLF milk (MM), or (iii) rhLF milk (LFM). LFM provided better average daily mass gain than OM (P = 0.007). PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 16S rDNA sequencing analysis revealed that the LFM piglets exhibited more diversity of the intestinal flora than the OM group. Except for the colon in the LFM group, an increasing trend in microbial diversity occurred from the duodenum to the colon. Fecal flora was not different across different ages or different treatment groups, but a cluster analysis showed that the fecal flora of OM- and MM-fed piglets had a higher degree of similarity than that of LFM-fed piglets. Based on culture-based bacterial counts of intestinal content samples, concentrations of Salmonella spp. in the colon and of Escherichia coli throughout the intestine were reduced with LFM (P < 0.01). Concentrations of Bifidobacterium spp. in the ileum and of Lactobacillus spp. throughout the intestine were also increased with LFM (P ≤ 0.01). We suggest that rhLF can modulate the intestinal flora in piglets.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of AgroBiotechnology, China Agricultural University, No. 2 Yuan Ming Yuan West Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100193, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wenping
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jianwu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003106:Colon / Q000382:microbiology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D030841:Food, Genetically Modified; D006801:Humans; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000382:microbiology*; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000235:genetics; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008297:Male; D054892:Metagenome; D008892:Milk / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D058889:Molecular Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D015430:Weight Gain
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D007781:Lactoferrin