Identification and Quantification of Bovine Digital Dermatitis-Associated Microbiota across Lesion Stages in Feedlot Beef Cattle
Benjamin Caddey, Karin Orsel, Sohail Naushad, Hooman Derakhshani, Jeroen De Buck
Abstract
Previous work, primarily in dairy cattle, has identified various taxa associated with digital dermatitis (DD) lesions. However, there is a significant gap in our knowledge of DD microbiology in beef cattle. In addition, characterization of bacteria at the species level in DD lesions is limited. In this study, we provide a framework for the accurate and reproducible quantification of major DD-associated bacterial species from DNA samples. Our findings support DD as a polymicrobial infection, and we identified a variety of bacterial species spanning multiple genera that are consistently associated with DD lesions. The DD-associated microbiota identified in this study may be capable of inducing the formation and progression of DD lesions and thus should be primary targets in future DD pathogenesis studies.