Changes in feeding habits promoted the differentiation of the composition and function of gut microbiotas between domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and gray wolves (Canis lupus)

Tianshu Lyu,Shengyang Zhou,Bo Pang,Lidong Wang,Guangshuai Liu,Huashan Dou,Huanxin Zhang,Weilai Sha,Honghai Zhang

doi:10.1186/s13568-018-0652-x

Abstract

Wolves (Canis lupus) and their domesticated and close relatives, dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), have great differences in their diets and living environments. To the best of our knowledge, the fundamental question of how the abundance and function of the gut microbiota of domestic dogs evolved to adapt to the changes in host feeding habits has yet to be addressed. In this study, our comparative analyses of gut metagenomes showed that the abundance of gut microbiota between the two species have some significant differences. Furthermore, a number of taxa observed in higher numbers in domestic dogs are related to carbohydrate metabolism, which may be because that there were more complicated polysaccharides in dogs diets than that in wolves diets. A significant difference in the abundance of genes encoding glycosyltransferase family 34 (GT34), carbohydrate-binding module family 25 (CBM25), and glycoside hydrolase family 13 (GH13) between the gut microbiota metagenomes of domestic dogs and gray wolves also supported this observation. Furthermore, the domestic dog gut microbiota has greater valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis and nitrogen metabolism. This result showed that compared with wolves, the domestic dog diet contains a smaller amount of animal protein, which is consistent with the dietary composition of wolves and dogs. Our results indicate that the function and abundance of gut microbiota of domestic dogs has been adapted to domestication, which is of great significance for the ability of domestic dogs to adapt to changes in food composition.

Highlights

The domestication of animals and plants has had an important impact on the progress of human civilization (Diamond 2002)
The ANOSIM analysis based on species richness and the cluster analysis based on Bray–Curtis distance reach the same conclusion (Fig. 1)
By comparing the gut microbiota of wolves and domestic dogs, we observed that the differences in microbial species and genes were related to many functions, such as starch and cellulose metabolism

Summary

Introduction

The domestication of animals and plants has had an important impact on the progress of human civilization (Diamond 2002). A mitochondrial genomes study for present-day dogs and wolves and fossil canids suggested that wolves may come into contact with European hunters and share the food from hunters, Europeans domesticated wolves and turned them into dogs (Thalmann et al 2013). Bosch et al (2015) suggested that as real carnivores, the main food source of wild wolves were mammals including ungulates and non-ungulates. Present-day dogs have a more diverse diet, mainly including starch food, fat and protein (Lasater and Mooers 1993; Rowe et al 1997). The whole genome characteristics of wolves and domestic dogs has been well studied, the differences in the structure and function of digestive tract flora between wolves and domestic dogs remains open to question

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Conclusion