Abstract
Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), distributed in Southeast Asia, are generally used in biomedical research. At present, the expansion of human communities overlapping of macaques’ natural habitat causes human-macaque conflicts. To mitigate this problem in Thailand, the National Primate Research Center of Thailand, Chulalongkorn University (NPRCT-CU), was granted the permit to catch the surplus wild-born macaques and transfer them to the center. Based on the fact that the diets provided and the captive environments were different, their oral-gut microbiota should be altered. Thus, we investigated and compared the oral and fecal microbiome between wild-born macaques that lived in the natural habitats and those transferred to and reared in the NPRCT-CU for 1 year. The results from 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing showed that the captive macaques had distinct oral-gut microbiota profiles and lower bacterial richness compared to those in wild macaques. The gut of wild macaques was dominated by Firmicutes which is probably associated with lipid absorption and storage. These results implicated the effects of captivity conditions on the microbiome that might contribute to crucial metabolic functions. Our study should be applied to the animal health care program, with respect to microbial functions, for non-human primates.
Highlights
Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), distributed in Southeast Asia, are generally used in biomedical research
The comparison of microbiome between wild and captive long-tailed macaques presents the perspective knowledge for exploring the bacterial diversity as well as the effects of habitat and captive environments on their oral and fecal microbiota
The wild macaques showed a greater richness of oral bacteria than the captive macaques, suggesting the higher microbial exposure in their natural habitat
Summary
Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), distributed in Southeast Asia, are generally used in biomedical research. The gut of wild macaques was dominated by Firmicutes which is probably associated with lipid absorption and storage These results implicated the effects of captivity conditions on the microbiome that might contribute to crucial metabolic functions. It is widely distributed in Southeast Asian countries[22] and can be found in all regions of Thailand Regarding their overpopulation status which has caused the human-macaque c onflict[23], the National Primate Research Center of Thailand, Chulalongkorn University (NPRCT-CU) was granted the permit from the Department of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation to catch the wild-borne macaques and use them as breeding founders of the center. The studies of microbiome in captive (wild-born) macaques living in NPRCT-CU might elucidate the captivity effects on microbiota composition and their roles in influencing the health of animals. The knowledge of this study should be beneficial for translation to animal healthcare and management in the primate centers
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