Isolation, Culturing, and Nutrient Analysis of Candidatus arthromitus

Abstract

Candidatus arthromitus (CA) is a Gram positive, spore-forming segmented filamentous bacteria known to be a commensal if not symbiotic organism residing in the gastrointestinal tract. Candidatus arthromitus was first isolated and grown using the methods explained in Schnupf et al, 2015 (3). Isolated cells were cultured using brain heart infusion broth (BHI) with additional carbohydrate sources predicted by systems biology and genome-scale metabolic modeling techniques to increase growth. Methods for culturing and computational predictions are described in the materials and methods found in chapter four of this thesis. Cultured CA was used in Biolog TM assays to determine CA metabolic capabilities in comparison to in-silico predictions. Growth curves and dry cell weight experiments were completed on carbohydrate-spiked BHI broth to provide supporting evidence of CA external host viability and in vitro growth. This is the first effort to culture CA from commercial turkeys; the importance stems from an industry issue with commercial turkeys failing to reach full weight potential at an early age. This term describing this issue is Light Turkey Syndrome (LTS).