Abstract
Previous studies suggested a close relationship between ruminant gut microbes and the mammary gland. In this study, shotgun metagenomic sequencing was used to reveal the differences in the intestinal microbiome potentially related to milk components in Murrah buffaloes and Chinese Holstein cattle. A PCoA based on the weighted Unifrac distances showed an apparent clustering pattern in the structure of intestinal microbiota between buffalo and cattle. We could attribute the structural difference to the genera of Sutterella, Coprococcus and Dorea. A further analysis of microbial functional features revealed that the biosynthesis of amino acids (including lysine, valine, leucine and isoleucine), lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis and cofactor/vitamin biosynthesis were enriched in the buffalo. In contrast, dairy cattle had higher levels of pyruvate metabolism and carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms. A further correlation analysis based on different milk components and the typical microbiome uncovered a significant positive correlation between milk protein and the microbial biosynthesis of amino acids, which was also positively correlated in the genera of Parabacteroides, Dorea and Sutterella. This study will expand our understanding of the intestinal microbiome of buffalo and cattle as representative ruminants, as well as provide new views about how to improve the production and nutritional qualities of animal milk.
Highlights
Murrah buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) and Chinese Holstein cattle, which belong to the genus Bos, are economically significant livestock that have been used as a source of dairy and meat, as well as draught power[1]
With the development of next-generation sequencing, we described the microbial diversity in any micro-ecosystem globally by high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA)
Shotgun metagenomic sequencing and 16S rRNA high throughput sequencing were applied to reveal the differences in the intestinal microbiome between buffalo (n = 10) and dairy cattle (n = 10)
Summary
Murrah buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) and Chinese Holstein cattle, which belong to the genus Bos (order: Artiodactyla; suborder: Ruminantia), are economically significant livestock that have been used as a source of dairy and meat, as well as draught power[1]. Jimenez[8] reported the oral administration of Lactobacillus strains isolated from breast milk as an alternative for the treatment of infectious mastitis during lactation Another earlier study clarified the potential mechanism between the occurrence/development of mastitis and intestinal microbiota[9]. To characterize biomass-degrading relative functional genes, Hess et al.[11] explored deeply sequenced metagenomic reads (268 G bases) from complex microbiota related to plant fibre incubated in cow rumen. From the results, they identified 27,755 carbohydrate-active genes and over 90 candidate proteins, of which more than 57% were enzymatically active against cellulosic substrates. We provide a new view for increasing milk production and quality, as well as promoting the long-term development of China’s dairy industry
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