ASSESSMENT OF THE BOVINE OCULAR MICROBIOME FOR THERAPEUTIC TARGETS IN DISEASE STATES

Eye disease in cattle related to infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK) and ocular squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is extremely common and often leads to blinding and painful sequelae, constituting a significant welfare concern while drastically reducing production efficiency in this species. A major long-term goal of the proposed study is to identify novel targets for modulation of the microbiome in cattle affected with IBK and OSCC, by increasing understanding of the local microbial environment of the normal and diseased bovine eye. It is known that the ocular surface microbiota play a protective role in the prevention of disease. Understanding these interactions in more detail will enable the development of novel approaches to the treatment and prevention of ophthalmic diseases in cattle, without the use of conventional antibiotics.We hypothesize that the ocular microbiome will be significantly different in normal bovine eyes and eyes affected by IBK and OSCC. To address this hypothesis, we have two objectives:Determine the ocular microbiome in cattle with confirmed IBKObjective 1: Perform 16s amplicon Next-Generation Microbiome Sequencing and subsequent comparative analysis on ocular swabs collected from a large cohort of cattle with both normal eyes and those with confirmed IBK. We hypothesize that animals with IBK will have an increased proportion of Moraxella bovis compared to normal animals, and that the proportion of normal homeostatic bacterial groups on the ocular surface will be reduced. We also hypothesize that groups of potentially pathogenic bacteria (such as Mycoplasma bovoculi) will be found in greater proportions in animals with IBK than those which are normal. These alterations in bacterial groups (homeostatic/pathogenic) will be exploited in future directed therapies.Determine the ocular microbiome in cattle with confirmed OSCCObjective 2: Perform 16s amplicon Next-Generation Microbiome Sequencing and subsequent comparative analysis on ocular swabs collected from a large cohort of cattle with both normal eyes and those with confirmed OSCC. We hypothesize that animals with OSCC will have an increased proportion of pathogenic bacteria on the ocular surface compared to normal animals and that the proportion of normal homeostatic bacterial groups on the ocular surface will be reduced. Similar to objective 1, these alterations in bacterial groups (homeostatic/pathogenic) will be exploited in future directed therapies.