Laboratory Animals - June Issue - 283

Hansen et al.

283
Table 2. Some specific facultatively pathogenic bacteria in rats and mice.66-80
Phylum

Disease

Bordetella hinzii
Bordetella psedohinzii
Corynebacterium spp.
Klebsiella oxytoca

Proteobacteria
Proteobacteria
Actinobacteria
Proteobacteria

Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Staphylococcus spp.

Proteobacteria
Firmicutes

Respiratory
Respiratory
Skin, urogenital
Ears, respiratory,
urogenital
Eyes, respiratory
Skin, respiratory

Table 3. Some specific commensal gut bacteria with a documented impact on animal
models.90-135

Alistipes spp.
Akkermansia muciniphila
Bifidobacterium spp.
Bacteroides fragilis
Bacteroides vulgatus
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii
Prevotella copri
Proteus mirabilis
Segmented filamentous
bacteria (Candidatus savagella)

Phylum

Anti-inflammatory (A)
Pro-inflammatory (P) (þ)

Bacteroidetes
Verrucomicrobia
Actinobacteria
Bacteroidetes
Bacteroidetes
Firmicutes
Bacteroidetes
Proteobacteria
Firmicutes

P
A
A
P
P
A
P
P
P

haemolytic streptococci need cultivation on a blood
agar prior to serotyping or PCR of b-haemolytic
colonies.64

and C. mastitidis,79 may cause urogenital suppuration
in rats and mice. All of these bacteria can be diagnosed
by PCR.69,80-84

Other facultative pathogens

Gut commensals with an impact on mouse
and rat models

Various other facultative pathogens are common
agents in rodent facilities (Table 2). Staphylococcus
spp. may have more or less the same impact as
Rodentibacter spp.65,66 Bordetella hinzii, and B. pseudohinzii isolated from the respiratory organs of laboratory
rats and mice67,68 are known to cause mild respiratory
symptoms and disturb murine models of pulmonary
disease.69,70 Pseudomonas aeruginosa may cause conjunctivitis, rhinitis and pneumonia in immune-deﬁcient
or stressed animals71 as well as in transgenic mouse
models of cystic ﬁbrosis.72 Klebsiella oxytoca has been
associated with otitis media, urogenital tract infections
and pneumonia in mice.73,74 Nude mice may develop a
syndrome characterized by scaling and crusty skin, the
most common agent of which is Corynebacterium
bovis,75,76 but severe disease is probably multifactorial.77 Other Corynebacterium spp., such as C. renale78

The access to molecular techniques, such as PCR, 16S
rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomic sequencing,85
for a deeper characterization of the rodent microbiota
has revealed that many of those bacteria, which have
been diﬃcult to isolate and identify previously have a
profound impact on a range of animal models.86
Much of this impact is complex and is most likely
driven by several bacteria in conjunction. However,
enough information is available in order to identify
a number of speciﬁc bacteria about which information on their status will be important for a range of
research groups (Table 3). All of these, that is,
Alistipes spp.,87 A. muciniphila,88 biﬁdobacteria,89
Bacteroides spp.,90 F. prausnitzii,91 Prevotella spp.92
and segmented ﬁlamentous bacteria (SFBs),93 can be
detected by PCR.

Laboratory Animals - June Issue

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