Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR, USA.
ISME J. 2010 May;4(5):611-20. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2009.147. Epub 2010 Feb 4.
The hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) is a South American strict folivorous bird, with a crop microbial ecosystem that ferments dietary plants. Chicks progressively become independent from the adult-fed regurgitated crop liquids, and we hypothesized that the crop bacterial ecosystem develops through ecological succession mechanisms, as they grow into adults. The aim of this work was to compare the crop bacterial community in hoatzins from three age groups: newly hatched chicks, juveniles and adults by sequencing 16S rRNA genes and using the G2 PhyloChip. Cloning yielded a total of 2123 nearly full-length sequences binned into 294 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) (with <97% homology) belonging to 7 phyla, with 91% of novel OTUs. The microarray identified a diverse bacterial community dominated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, with approximately 1400 taxa grouped in 40 phyla that included those detected by cloning. In comparison with the adult, the hoatzin chick crop had a greater abundance of Flavobacteriaceae, Clostridiaceae and Lachnospiraceae but lacked phyla DSS1, Deferribacteres and Termite group 1, which were mostly present in adults. The overall community structure of the crop of the hoatzin changes with age in a complex manner, probably responding to new niches made available through dietary changes related to the transition from dependent to independent feeding.
麝雉（Opisthocomus hoazin）是一种南美严格的食叶鸟，其嗉囊中存在微生物生态系统，可以发酵食物。雏鸟逐渐从成年鸟反刍的嗉囊液体中获得独立，我们假设随着其生长为成鸟，嗉囊细菌生态系统通过生态演替机制发育。本研究旨在通过测序 16S rRNA 基因和使用 G2 PhyloChip 比较三个年龄段（刚孵化的雏鸟、幼鸟和成年鸟）麝雉嗉囊中的细菌群落。克隆共获得了 2123 条全长近序列，分为 294 个操作分类单位（OTU）（相似度<97%），属于 7 个门，其中 91%的 OTU 是新的。微阵列鉴定出一个由厚壁菌门和拟杆菌门为主导的多样化细菌群落，约有 1400 个分类群分为 40 个门，其中包括通过克隆检测到的门。与成年鸟相比，麝雉雏鸟嗉囊中Flavobacteriaceae、Clostridiaceae 和 Lachnospiraceae 的丰度更高，但缺乏 DSS1、脱硫菌门和白蚁群 1 等门，这些门主要存在于成年鸟中。麝雉嗉囊的整体群落结构随年龄呈复杂变化，可能是对与从依赖喂养到独立喂养过渡相关的新食物来源的反应。
