Abstract
The gut microbiota plays a key role in host health, and disruptions to gut bacterial homeostasis can cause disease. However, the effect of disease on gut microbiota assembly remains unclear and gut microbiota-based predictions of health status is a promising yet poorly established field. Using Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology, we compared the gut microbiota between healthy (HA and HB) and diarrhoeic (DS) Rana dybowskii groups and analyzed the functional profiles through a phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt) analysis. In addition, we estimated the correlation between gut microbiota structures and predicted the functional compositions. The results showed significant differences in the phylogenetic diversity (Pd), Shannon, and observed richness (Sobs) indices between the DS and HB groups, with significant differences observed in the gut microbiota composition between the DS group and the HA and HB groups. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) results revealed that Proteobacteria were significantly enriched in the DS group; Bacteroidetes were significantly enriched in the HA and HB groups; and Aeromonas, Citrobacter, Enterococcus, Hafnia-Obesumbacterium, Morganella, Lactococcus, Providencia, Vagococcus, and Staphylococcus were significantly enriched in the DS group. Venn diagrams revealed that there were many more unique genera in the DS group than the HA and HB groups. Among 102 sensitive species selected using the indicator method, 33 indicated a healthy status and 69 (e.g., Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, Legionella, Morganella, Proteus, Providencia, Staphylococcus, and Vagococcus) indicated a diseased status. There was a significant and positive association between the composition and functional composition of the gut microbiota, thus indicating low functional redundancy of the frog gut bacterial community. Rana dybowskii disease was associated with changes in the gut microbiota, which subsequently disrupted bacterial-mediated functions. The results of this study can aid in revealing the effect of the R. dybowskii gut microbiota on host health and provide a basis for elucidating the mechanism of the occurrence of R. dybowskii disease.
Highlights
The gut microbiota represents a significant microbiota in the host (Rudi et al, 2018), and in recent years, numerous studies have investigated how various factors may impact the gut bacterial community, such as antibiotic use, health, diet, nutrition, and age (Pascoe et al, 2017)
The phylogenetic diversity (Pd), Shannon, and Sobs indices were significantly different among the three groups (Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test, P < 0.001; analysis of variance (ANOVA), P = 0.028; Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test, P < 0.001)
As the number of samples increased, the number of core operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the diarrhoeic frogs (DS) and HA groups slightly decreased while the number of core OTUs in the HB group and in all frogs decreased to a greater extent (Figures 2A,B)
Summary
The gut microbiota represents a significant microbiota in the host (Rudi et al, 2018), and in recent years, numerous studies have investigated how various factors may impact the gut bacterial community, such as antibiotic use, health, diet, nutrition, and age (Pascoe et al, 2017). There is a paucity of information regarding the gut bacterial community of amphibians (Kohl and Yahn, 2016; Jiménez and Sommer, 2017). Studies have shown that different structures and compositions of the gut microbiota can affect the nutritional metabolism and sensitivity to external pathogen infection of the host (Colombo et al, 2015). Previous studies on amphibians have not focused on the gut microbiota at the community level but rather focused on one or a few potential single pathogens from diseased individuals (Gomez et al, 2017; Jiménez and Sommer, 2017). Few studies have used changes in the gut microbiota to assess the health of amphibians
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
