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. 2022 May 7;18(5):30.
doi: 10.1007/s11306-022-01888-6.

Metabotyping the Welsh population of badgers based on thoracic fluid

James Scott-Baumann  1 , Richard Pizzey  1 , Manfred Beckmann  1 , Bernardo Villarreal-Ramos  1   2   3 , Jonathan King  4 , Beverley Hopkins  4 , David Rooke  5 , Glyn Hewinson  1   2 , Luis A J Mur  6   7
Affiliations

Metabotyping the Welsh population of badgers based on thoracic fluid

James Scott-Baumann et al. Metabolomics. .

Abstract

Introduction: The European badger (Meles meles) is a known wildlife reservoir for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and a better understanding of the epidemiology of bTB in this wildlife species is required for disease control in both wild and farmed animals. Flow infusion electrospray-high-resolution mass spectrometry (FIE-HRMS) may potentially identify novel metabolite biomarkers based on which new, rapid, and sensitive point of care tests for bTB infection could be developed.

Objectives: In this foundational study, we engaged on assessing the baseline metabolomic variation in the non-bTB infected badger population ("metabotyping") across Wales.

Methods: FIE-HRMS was applied on thoracic fluid samples obtained by post-mortem of bTB negative badgers (n = 285) which were part of the Welsh Government 'All Wales Badger Found Dead' study.

Results: Using principal component analysis and partial least squares-discriminant analyses, the major sources of variation were linked to sex, and to a much lesser extent age, as indicated by tooth wear. Within the female population, variation was seen between lactating and non-lactating individuals. No significant variation linked to the presence of bite wounds, obvious lymphatic lesions or geographical region of origin was observed.

Conclusion: Future metabolomic work when making comparisons between bTB infected and non-infected badger samples will only need be sex-matched and could focus on males only, to avoid lactation bias.

Keywords: All wales badger found dead; Badgers; Diagnostics; High resolution metabolomics; Metabotyping.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Partial Least Squares Discriminant analysis of thoracic fluid metabolomes comparing badgers based on A sex (0 = female, 1 = male) or B lactation status, (0 = without, 1 = with). The shaded ellipsis represent 95% CI for each group
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Enhanced pathway analysis indicating metabolomic differences in thoracic fluid metabolomes comparing badgers based on sex
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Heatmap showing metabolites which accumulated to different levels in thoracic fluid metabolomes when comparing sex (0 = female, 1 = male)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Partial Least Squares Discriminant analysis of thoracic fluid metabolomes comparing badgers based on age. Age as indicated by (A) grade of tooth wear (0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1) and B differentiation into adults and cubs. The shaded ellipsis represent 95% CI for each group
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Partial Least Squares Discriminant analysis of thoracic fluid metabolomes comparing badgers with A visible lesions (0 = without, 1 = with) or B bite wound (0 = without, 1 = with). The shaded ellipsis represent 95% CI for each group
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) of thoracic fluid metabolomes comparing badgers from the five Welsh risk areas. The Welsh risk areas (A); 1 = high risk east, 2 = high risk west, 3 = intermediate area north, 4 = intermediate area mid and 5 = low risk area. B PLS-DA of metabolomes related to welsh region. The shaded ellipsis represent 95% CI for each group
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