Due to the ever-increasing demand for meat, it has become necessary to identify cheap and sustainable sources of protein for animal feed. Feathers are the major byproduct of poultry industry, which are rich in hard-to-degrade keratin protein. Previously we found that intact feathers can be digested into free amino acids, short peptides, and nano-/micro-keratin particles by the strain Bacillus licheniformis WHU in water, and the resulting feather hydrolysates exhibit prebiotic effects on mice. To explore the potential utilization of feather hydrolysate in the feed industry, we investigated its effects on the gut microbiota of broilers and fish. Our results suggest that feather hydrolysates significantly decrease and increase the diversity of gut microbial communities in broilers and fish, respectively. The composition of the gut microbiota was markedly altered in both of the animals. The abundance of bacteria with potentially pathogenic phenotypes in the gut microbial community of the fish significantly decreased. Staphylococcus spp., Pseudomonas spp., Neisseria spp., Achromobacter spp. were significantly inhibited by the feather hydrolysates. In addition, feather hydrolysates significantly improved proteolytic activity in the guts of broilers and fish. In fish, the expression levels of ZO-1 and TGF-α significantly improved after administration of feather hydrolysates. The results presented here suggest that feather hydrolysates generated by B. licheniformis WHU could be an alternative protein source in aquaculture and could exert beneficial effects on fish.

由于对肉类的需求不断增加，有必要寻找廉价且可持续的动物饲料蛋白质来源。羽毛是家禽业的主要副产品，富含难以降解的角蛋白。此前我们发现完整的羽毛可以被地衣芽孢杆菌WHU菌株在水中消化成游离氨基酸、短肽和纳米/微米角蛋白颗粒，并且所得羽毛水解产物对小鼠表现出益生元作用。为了探索羽毛水解产物在饲料工业中的潜在利用，我们研究了其对肉鸡和鱼类肠道微生物群的影响。我们的结果表明，羽毛水解产物分别显着减少和增加了肉鸡和鱼类肠道微生物群落的多样性。两只动物的肠道微生物群组成都发生了显着改变。鱼类肠道微生物群落中具有潜在致病表型的细菌丰度显着下降。葡萄球菌属、假单胞菌属、奈瑟氏菌属、无色杆菌属 羽毛水解产物显着抑制。此外，羽毛水解产物显着提高了肉鸡和鱼肠道中的蛋白水解活性。在鱼类中，给予羽毛水解物后，ZO-1 和 TGF-α 的表达水平显着提高。本文的结果表明，地衣芽孢杆菌WHU 产生的羽毛水解产物可以作为水产养殖中的替代蛋白质来源，并且可以对鱼类产生有益的影响。