Megan Schilling

Pennsylvania State University | Penn State · Department of Animal Science

Super-shed (SS) Escherichia coli O157 (E. coli O157) demonstrate a strong, aggregative, locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE)-independent adherence phenotype on bovine recto-anal junction squamous epithelial (RSE) cells, and harbor polymorphisms in non-LEE-adherence-related loci, including in the type 1 fimbriae operon. To elucidate the role of type...

Meat from wildlife species (bushmeat) represents a major source of dietary protein in low- and middle-income countries where humans and wildlife live in close proximity. Despite the occurrence of zoonotic pathogens in wildlife, their prevalence in bushmeat remains unknown. To assess the risk of exposure to major pathogens in bushmeat, a total of 3,...

Bushmeat harvesting and consumption represents a potential risk for the spillover of endemic zoonotic pathogens, yet remains a common practice in many parts of the world. Given that the harvesting and selling of bushmeat is illegal in Tanzania and other parts of Africa, the supply chain is informal and may include hunters, whole-sellers, retailers,...

Bushmeat, the meat and organs derived from wildlife species, is a common source of animal protein in the diets of those living in sub-Saharan Africa and is frequently associated with zoonotic spillover of dangerous pathogens. Given the frequent consumption of bushmeat in this region and the lack of knowledge about the microbial communities associat...

Considerable effort has been directed toward controlling Johne’s disease (JD), a chronic granulomatous intestinal inflammatory disease caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) in cattle and other ruminants. However, progress in controlling the spread of MAP infection has been impeded by the lack of reliable diagnostic tests that...

Background Zoonotic tuberculosis (zTB) is the transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) subspecies from animals to humans. zTB is generally quantified by determining the proportion of human isolates that are Mycobacterium bovis . Although India has the world’s largest number of human TB cases and the largest cattle population, where...

Background: One of the major challenges facing investigators in the microbiome field is turning large numbers of reads generated by next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms into biological knowledge. Effective analytical workflows that guarantee reproducibility, repeatability, and result provenance are essential requirements of modern microbiome...

The molecular characterization of three Newcastle disease viruses (NDV) isolated from backyard chickens in the state of Haryana, India, was undertaken. Two genotype II strains and one genotype XIIIc class II isolate with genome sizes of 15,186 and 15,192 nucleotides (nt), respectively, were identified.

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) causes substantial economic losses to smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries with high levels of morbidity and mortality in poultry flocks. Previous investigations have suggested differing levels of susceptibility to NDV between specific inbred lines and amongst breeds of chickens, however, the mechani...

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is a threat to the global poultry industry, but particularly for smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries. Previous reports suggest that some breeds of chickens are less susceptible to NDV infection, however, the mechanisms contributing to this are unknown. We here examined the comparative transcriptiona...

Viral infections impose a great threat to backyard chicken production among poor rural households in developing countries. These infections limit the contribution of chicken production in improving the livelihoods of poor communities, particularly in Africa. Chicken viral infections lack treatment options; control and prevention depend primarily on...

Traditional approaches to assess the immune response of chickens to infection are through animal trials, which are expensive, require enhanced biosecurity, compromise welfare, and are frequently influenced by confounding variables. Since the chicken embryo becomes immunocompetent prior to hatch, we here characterized the transcriptional response of...

Johne’s Disease (JD), caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), results in significant economic loss to livestock production. The early detection of MAP infection in animals with extant serological assays has remained challenging due to the low sensitivity of commercially available ELISA tests, a fact that has hampered the de...

AUC, cut-off, sensitivity, and specificity values for each of the six MAP recombinant proteins, individually and in combination in serum and milk. (XLSX)

ROC curves depicting reactivity for each antigen with both serum and milk samples. (A) Serum (n = 180, 60 each group), (B) Milk (n = 90, 30 each group). Group All represents 180 samples in serum and 90 in milk; F+E+/NL includes group NL and F+E+ (n = 120 in serum; n = 90 in milk); F+E-/NL includes group NL and F+E+ (n = 120 in serum; n = 90 in milk...

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne's disease (JD), a chronic intestinal inflammatory disease of cattle and other ruminants. JD has a high herd prevalence and causes serious animal health problems and significant economic loss in domesticated ruminants throughout the world. Since serological detection o...

Serum samples used in the study. (XLSX)

MAP orthologs of MTB proteins identified as significantly reactive antigens. (XLSX)

Sensitivity and specificity for each antigen. (XLSX)

Different profiles of comparison of infected groups with NL and NH as a reference. A. Number of significantly reactive proteins identified in F+E- group in comparison with NL and NH. The large circle represents the number of significantly reactive proteins in comparison with NL and the smaller circle represents the number of identified proteins in...

Proteins identified in NH, F+E-, and F+E+ group. Unique proteins represents proteins the proteins are significantly reactive (P<0.05) proteins identified only in the specific group (NH, F+E-, or F+E+). Shared proteins represent proteins are significantly reactive (P<0.05) proteins identified in two or three groups. (TIFF)

Comparison of MAP3939c with 5 MTB orthologues. Upper: multiple alignment of MAP3939c with 5 MTB orthologue. As showed in the alignment, there is the highest identity between MAP3939c and Rv0442c. Bottom: similar structure characters between MAP3939c and Rv0442c (Protean of Lasergene, DNAstar, Madison, Wisconsin). (TIFF)

Background Dietary salts are important factors in metabolic disorders. They are vital components of enzymes, vitamins, hormones, and signal transduction that act synergistically to regulate lipid metabolism. Our previous studies have identified that Krüppel-like factor −3 (KLF-3) is an essential regulator of lipid metabolism. However, it is not kno...

Background Multiple types of solid waste in developing countries is disposed of together in dumpsites where there is interaction between humans, animals and the bacteria in the waste. To study the bacteria at the dumpsite and the associated risks, previous studies have focused on culturable, leaving behind a great number of unculturable bacteria. T...

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is the etiological agent of severe chronic intestinal inflammatory disease in ruminants, termed Johne's disease, and can infect many other animal species, including humans. MAP has a long incubation period prior to manifestation of clinical signs including diarrhea, weight loss, and loss of prod...