Abstract
T. gondii is a highly prevalent parasite worldwide, with cats serving as its final host. However, few studies have investigated the impact of T. gondii infection on cat gut microbiota. Therefore, this study examined the influence of T. gondii infection on the gut microbiota of stray cats and identified potential pathogens in their feces. This study examined T. gondii infection through blood of stray cats and the influence of microbiota in their feces using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The results revealed significant differences in gut microbiota composition and diversity between the T. gondii seropositive and seronegative groups. Seropositive samples displayed a lower number of operational taxonomic units and reduced Shannon index than the seronegative samples. The seropositive and seronegative groups exhibited enrichment of taxa, including Escherichia and Enterobacteriaceae and Collinsella, Bifidobacterium, and Roseburia, respectively. Furthermore, potential pathogen species, including Campylobacter, Escherichia, and Streptococcus, were identified in the fecal samples. These findings suggest that T. gondii infection significantly impacts gut microbiota composition and diversity in stray cats. Additionally, an increased potential pathogen load, represented by Escherichia spp., was observed. These results underscore the importance of monitoring the prevalence of zoonotic pathogens in stray cats, as they can serve as reservoirs for zoonotic diseases.
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Data availability
Raw sequence data are available in NCBI GenBank under BioProject PRJNA938289.
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Funding
This study was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korean Government (MEST; Number NRF-2020R1I1A2074562). In addition, this study was supported by a faculty research grant from the Yonsei University College of Medicine (6-2022-0125).
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JYK and BKJ designed this study. SH and CHJ conducted laboratory experiments and writing. SO and MHY supported writing some paragraphs. SLK, MK, and CWL performed sampling. HJY, JYC, and TSY analyzed and interpreted the data to create the manuscript. All authors have read and accepted the final manuscript.
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All animal experiments were approved by the IACUC of the Korea Association of Health Promotion (KAHP-IACUC-2021001).
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Hong, S., Choi, J.H., Oh, S. et al. Gut microbiota differences induced by Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity in stray cats in South Korea. Parasitol Res 122, 2413–2421 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07943-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07943-y