Author:
Guo Rong,Zhang Wei,Shen Wei,Zhang Guoliang,Xie Taifeng,Li Ling,Jinmei Jiacuo,Liu Yiduan,Kong Fanyong,Guo Baozhu,Li Benke,Sun Yujiang,Liu Shuqin
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Gut microbiota plays a significant role in host survival, health, and diseases; however, compared to other livestock, research on the gut microbiome of donkeys is limited.
Results
In this study, a total of 30 donkey samples of rectal contents from six regions, including Shigatse, Changdu, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Dezhou, were collected for metagenomic sequencing. The results of the species annotation revealed that the dominant phyla were Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, and the dominant genera were Bacteroides, unclassified_o_Clostridiales (short for Clostridiales) and unclassified_f_Lachnospiraceae (short for Lachnospiraceae). The dominant phyla, genera and key discriminators were Bacteroidetes, Clostridiales and Bacteroidetes in Tibet donkeys (Shigatse); Firmicutes, Clostridiales and Clostridiales in Tibet donkeys (Changdu); Firmicutes, Fibrobacter and Tenericutes in Qinghai donkeys; Firmicutes, Clostridiales and Negativicutes in Yunnan donkeys; Firmicutes, Fibrobacter and Fibrobacteres in Xinjiang donkeys; Firmicutes, Clostridiales and Firmicutes in Dezhou donkeys. In the functional annotation, it was mainly enriched in the glycolysis and gluconeogenesis of carbohydrate metabolism, and the abundance was the highest in Dezhou donkeys. These results combined with altitude correlation analysis demonstrated that donkeys in the Dezhou region exhibited strong glucose-conversion ability, those in the Shigatse region exhibited strong glucose metabolism and utilization ability, those in the Changdu region exhibited a strong microbial metabolic function, and those in the Xinjiang region exhibited the strongest ability to decompose cellulose and hemicellulose.
Conclusion
According to published literature, this is the first study to construct a dataset with multi-regional donkey breeds. Our study revealed the differences in the composition and function of gut microbes in donkeys from different geographic regions and environmental settings and is valuable for donkey gut microbiome research.
Funder
Donkey Innovation Team of Shandong Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System
Major Agricultural Application Technology Innovation Projects of Shandong Province
Hebei Provincial science and Technology Planning Project
Systematic Evaluation and Screening of donkey germplasm Resources in the Yellow River Basin
Autonomous region science and technology branch Xinjiang project
Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation
Experimental Technology Research Pro-gramme of Qingdao Agriculture University
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC