ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Virology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1632166
Effects of selenomethionine on intestinal microbiota and its metabolism in mice infected with porcine deltacoronavirus
Provisionally accepted
- Yan'an University, Yan'an, China
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Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a novel enteropathogenic porcine coronavirus that primarily affects the intestinal tract. Modulating the intestinal microbiota could alleviate clinical signs and maintain the physical and chemical barrier of the intestines in piglets infected with PDCoV. Our previous study showed that selenium-methionine (SeMet) could attenuate intestinal damage in PDCoV-infected piglets or mice. However, its influence on gut microbiota and metabolites is still unclear.We aimed to investigate the effect of SeMet on gut microbiota and metabolites in PDCoV-infected mice. In this study, colon content samples from the Control group, the PDCoV group, and the SeMet+PDCoV group (0.3 mg/kg Se) were selected for highthroughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing (Illumina MiSeq) and metabolomics analysis using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The composition of intestinal microbiota and metabolites in each group and the relationship between intestinal microbiota and metabolites were analyzed using bioinformatics software. This study suggested that PDCoV infection could induce disorder in the intestinal microbiota of mice. SeMet treatment was found to restore the balance of this microbiota, including the bacteria Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Altered intestinal microbiota also affect gut metabolism. Supplementing with SeMet brought the metabolites of the intestinal microbiota of PDCoV-infected mice closer to those of the Control group. These metabolites included phenylalanine-proline, tyrosine-proline, tyrosine, tryptophan, glutamate and octadecanamide. This contributed to an improved antiviral infection and immune response. Correlation analysis revealed a strong correlation between the gut microbiota and its metabolites. SeMet mitigation of PDCoV-induced intestinal damage may be related to intestinal microbiota and their metabolites.
Keywords: PDCoV, SeMet, Mice, intestinal microbiota, Metabolomics
Received: 21 May 2025; Accepted: 20 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Shi and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Haiyan Li, Yan'an University, Yan'an, China
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