Liu Xuecong, Fan Penglai, Che Rongxiao, Li Huan, Yi Lina, Zhao Na, Garber Paul A, Li Fang, Jiang Zhigang
College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Institute of Ecology, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Am J Primatol. 2018 Apr;80(4):e22753. doi: 10.1002/ajp.22753. Epub 2018 Apr 10.
The gastrointestinal tract of primates harbors a complex microbial community, playing an essential role in the degradation of otherwise indigestible structural carbohydrates. The phylogenetic and functional diversity of the bacterial community in the feces as a surrogate for the gastrointestinal tract of wild Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana, N = 6) was characterized based on sequence analysis of 16S rRNA genes. A sex comparison was conducted, with a prior hypothesis that the abundances of the bacterial taxa and/or functional categories associated with energy and nutrient metabolism would be higher in adult females (N = 3) due to the higher reproductive costs compared to adult males (N = 3). Ten phyla were identified in all samples, among which Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the predominant. Included in the above two phyla, the members of Prevotellaceae (Prevotella in particular) and Ruminococcaceae were highly abundant, which are common bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract of primates and can degrade various structural carbohydrates such as cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. This functionality was in line with the high abundances of the metagenomes associated with carbohydrate metabolism. Consistent with our hypothesis, the abundances of the metagenomes associated with energy metabolism, folding/sorting and degradation, glycan biosynthesis and metabolism, and metabolism of amino acids were higher in adult females relative to adult males. Sex differences were also detected in the bacterial community structure, although no sex differences in the proportions of any bacterial taxa were found likely due to the small sample size. These results suggested that gastrointestinal bacterial communities may aid adult females in increasing energy and nutrition utilization efficiencies compared to adult males. Fecal bacterial communities were found to be more similar between individuals in adult females than in adult males. Our study presented the first examination of the fecal bacterial diversity of a little-studied, endangered foregut fermenter.
灵长类动物的胃肠道中栖息着一个复杂的微生物群落，在降解原本难以消化的结构性碳水化合物方面发挥着重要作用。基于对野生川金丝猴（Rhinopithecus roxellana，N = 6）胃肠道粪便中细菌群落的16S rRNA基因序列分析，对其系统发育和功能多样性进行了表征。进行了性别比较，之前有一个假设，即由于成年雌性（N = 3）的生殖成本高于成年雄性（N = 3），与能量和营养代谢相关的细菌分类群和/或功能类别的丰度在成年雌性中会更高。在所有样本中鉴定出了10个门，其中拟杆菌门和厚壁菌门占主导地位。在上述两个门中，普雷沃氏菌科（特别是普雷沃氏菌属）和瘤胃球菌科的成员高度丰富，它们是灵长类动物胃肠道中的常见细菌，能够降解各种结构性碳水化合物，如纤维素、半纤维素和果胶。这种功能与碳水化合物代谢相关宏基因组的高丰度一致。与我们的假设一致，成年雌性中与能量代谢、折叠/分选和降解、聚糖生物合成和代谢以及氨基酸代谢相关的宏基因组丰度相对于成年雄性更高。在细菌群落结构中也检测到了性别差异，尽管由于样本量小，未发现任何细菌分类群比例的性别差异。这些结果表明，与成年雄性相比，胃肠道细菌群落可能有助于成年雌性提高能量和营养利用效率。发现成年雌性个体之间的粪便细菌群落比成年雄性个体之间的更相似。我们的研究首次对一种研究较少的濒危前肠发酵动物的粪便细菌多样性进行了检测。
