Campylobacter Colonization of the Turkey Intestine in the Context of Microbial Community Development

Patterns of microbial community dynamics in the turkey intestine were examined. Every week of the 18-week production cycle, cecal bacterial communities and Campylobacter loads were examined from five birds for each of two flocks. Molecular fingerprinting via the automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of the cecal samples revealed that microbial communities changed in a time- dependent manner, and during both trials they developed via transition through three phases during the production cycle. A core component of the microbiota consisting of 11 Bacteroidetes types was present throughout both trials. In contrast, constant succession was detected in the Clostridiales populations until week 10 or 11, with few shared sequences between the flocks. Changes in Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli loads were correlated to, but not dependent on, the two acute transitions delimiting the three developmental phases.