Abstract
BackgroundGastrointestinal microbiota play an important role in animal host immunity, nutrient metabolism, and energy acquisition, and have therefore drawn increasing attentions. This study compared the diversity of the gut microbiota of both wild and captive bharals, which is an ungulate herbivore of caprid from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau.ResultsThe sequencing of the V4-V5 region of the 16S rRNA gene via high-throughput sequencing technology showed that the dominant bacterial phyla are Firmicutes and Bacteroides both in wild and captive bharals. However, their abundance differed significantly between groups. Firmicutes were significantly higher in wild bharals, while Bacteroides were significantly higher in captive bharals. Different diets are likely a key influencing factor in the diversity and abundance of gut microbiota in bharals.ConclusionsChanges in diets affect the diversity of gut microbiota and the relative abundance of pathogenic bacteria, increasing the risk of diseases outbreak in captive bharals. The results of this study suggest that the structure and function of the gut microbiota should be regulated via dietary intervention, accurate provision of an individualized diet, and optimization of the functional network of gut microbiota and its interaction with the host. This will improve the ex situ protection of wild animals.
Highlights
Gastrointestinal microbiota play an important role in animal host immunity, nutrient metabolism, and energy acquisition, and have drawn increasing attentions
Sequencing data A total of 8,217,442 high-quality reads were obtained after data quality control, and fecal samples were classified into 3,878 Operational taxonomic unit (OTU), 2,443 of which were in the captive group and 3,166 in the wild group
Since the curves are smooth, a higher data volume would only yield a low number of OTUs, indicating that the volume of sequencing data is sufficiently reasonable
Summary
Gastrointestinal microbiota play an important role in animal host immunity, nutrient metabolism, and energy acquisition, and have drawn increasing attentions. Due to the use of modern molecular technology, the gut microbiota can be utilized as a signal hub that combines environmental inputs (e.g., diet) with genetic and immune signals All of this affect the host metabolism, immunity, and infection responses [1], and play an important role in the development of the immune system and in animal health [2,3,4,5,6]. The bharal is mainly distributed throughout the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its surrounding areas, including Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Shaanxi [14] It is one of the large hoofed animals in China and presents the most widely distributed cloven hoofed animal with the largest number on the Qinghai-
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