Abstract
The gut ecosystem is characterized by dynamic and reciprocal interactions between the host and bacteria. Although characterizing microbiota for herbivores has become recognized as important tool for gauging species health, no study to date has investigated the bacterial communities and evaluated the age-related bacterial dynamics of musk deer. Moreover, gastrointestinal diseases have been hypothesized to be a limiting factor of population growth in captive musk deer. Here, high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was used to profile the fecal bacterial communities in juvenile and adult alpine and forest musk deer. The two musk deer species harbored similar bacterial communities at the phylum level, whereas the key genera for the two species were distinct. The bacterial communities were dominated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, with the bacterial diversity being higher in forest musk deer. The Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio also increased from juvenile to adult, while the bacterial diversity, within-group and between-group similarity, all increased with age. This work serves as the first sequence-based analysis of variation in bacterial communities within and between musk deer species, and demonstrates how the gut microbial community dynamics vary among closely related species and shift with age. As gastrointestinal diseases have been observed in captive populations, this study provides valuable data that might benefit captive management and future reintroduction programs.
Highlights
Gut microbiota are an integral component of their host
The Shannon index rarefaction curves suggested that more sequencing might identify additional operational taxonomic units (OTUs), whereas, the bacterial diversity of each sample appeared to plateau (Supplementary Figure S1)
Our results showed different abundance of microbiotic communities at phylum level between musk deer species
Summary
Gut microbiota are an integral component of their host. Microbiota play a key role in host fitness, including the proliferation of enterocytes, the defense against pathogens, the production of secondary metabolites, and the digestion of complex carbohydrates (Flint et al, 2008; Walter et al, 2011). Gut bacteria harbor opportunistic pathogens, suggesting the gastrointestinal tract is a potential pathway for pathogen invasion (Roeselers et al, 2011). The colonization and diversity of gastrointestinal bacterial communities can be affected by many biotic and abiotic factors, including host age (Claesson et al, 2011; Jami et al, 2013), host species (Shepherd et al, 2012; Gruninger et al, 2014), host stress (Bailey et al, 2010), host diseases (Andersson et al, 2008; Larsen et al, 2010), diet composition (Shanks et al, 2011), drugs exposure (Dethlefsen et al, 2008), geographical location (Linnenbrink et al, 2013; Maurice et al, 2015; Henderson et al, 2016), and environment (Sullam et al, 2012; Gruninger et al, 2014). Assaying microbial community variation within and among populations can provide informative for conservation and management efforts as variation is linked to host health and nutritional state (Dethlefsen et al, 2007; Sekirov et al, 2010; Hooper et al, 2012) and is critical for commercial ungulate production (Alexander and Plaizier, 2016)
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