Abstract
Recent studies have described the bacterial community residing in the guts of giant pandas, together with the presence of lignocellulolytic enzymes. However, a more comprehensive understanding of the intestinal microbial composition and its functional capacity in giant pandas remains a major goal. Here, we conducted a comparison of bacterial, fungal and homoacetogenic microbial communities from fecal samples taken from two geriatric and two adult captive giant pandas. 16S rDNA amplicon pyrosequencing revealed that Firmicutes and Proteobacteria are the most abundant microbiota in both geriatric and adult giant pandas. However, members of phylum Actinobacteria found in adult giant pandas were absent in their geriatric counterparts. Similarly, ITS1 amplicon pyrosequencing identified developmental changes in the most abundant fungal classes from Sordariomycetes in adult pandas to Saccharomycetes in geriatric pandas. Geriatric pandas exhibited significantly higher abundance of a potential probiotic fungus (Candida tropicalis) as compared to adult pandas, indicating their importance in the normal digestive physiology of aged pandas. Our study also reported the presence of a lignocellulolytic white-rot fungus, Perenniporia medulla-panis, and the evidence of novel homoacetogens residing in the guts of giant pandas.
Highlights
The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is an endangered species endemic to China, with a population of less than 2,500 animals in the wild, and,200 in zoological institutions and breeding centers around the world [1,2]
The sequences were assigned to 259 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) at 97% threshold level
The remainders belonged to members of Actinobacteria (0.02–0.06%), Bacteroidetes (0.002%), and to unidentified bacterial phyla (0.02–0.15%) (Figure 1)
Summary
The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is an endangered species endemic to China, with a population of less than 2,500 animals in the wild, and ,200 in zoological institutions and breeding centers around the world [1,2]. As a member of the bear family (Ursidae), the giant panda possesses a gastrointestinal tract (GIT) typical of carnivores, yet intriguingly subscribes to an herbivorous diet consisting predominantly of bamboo. The giant pandas devote around 25% of their daily time on feeding activities, consuming up to 14 kg of bamboo [3] and other non-bamboo supplementary foods such as fruits and high-fiber biscuits. Pandas ingest highly fibrous diets, only 17% of the consumed dry matter is digested in their GITs [4,5]. Giant pandas lack the putative genes encoding for enzymes degrading lignocelluloses, suggesting that microbial degradation plays a significant role in bamboo digestion [2]
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