title: The effect of dietary supplementation with spent cider yeast on the Swine distal gut microbiome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is an increasing need for alternatives to antibiotics for promoting animal health, given the increasing problems associated with antibiotic resistance. In this regard, we evaluated spent cider yeast as a potential probiotic for modifying the gut microbiota in weanling pigs using pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene libraries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Piglets aged 24-26 days were assigned to one of two study groups; control (n = 12) and treatment (n = 12). The control animals were fed with a basal diet and the treatment animals were fed with basal diet in combination with cider yeast supplement (500 ml cider yeast containing ∼7.6 log CFU/ml) for 21 days. Faecal samples were collected for 16s rRNA gene compositional analysis. 16S rRNA compositional sequencing analysis of the faecal samples collected from day 0 and day 21 revealed marked differences in microbial diversity at both the phylum and genus levels between the control and treatment groups. This analysis confirmed that levels of Salmonella and Escherichia were significantly decreased in the treatment group, compared with the control (P<0.001). This data suggest a positive influence of dietary supplementation with live cider yeast on the microbial diversity of the pig distal gut.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The effect of dietary cider yeast on porcine gut microbial communities was characterized for the first time using 16S rRNA gene compositional sequencing. Dietary cider yeast can potentially alter the gut microbiota, however such changes depend on their endogenous microbiota that causes a divergence in relative response to that given diet.
authors.affiliation: Teagasc Food Research Programme, Moorepark, Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland ; Department of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland ; Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Aditya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Upadrasta
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: Orla
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: Noel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sexton
authors.forename: Peadar G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Lawlor
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Gerald F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stanton
authors.forename: R Paul
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Ross
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D013552:Swine; D015003:Yeasts / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S