Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States of America.
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2019 Jul 30;14(7):e0220463. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220463. eCollection 2019.
Previous research revealed the feline skin bacterial microbiota to be site-specific and the fungal microbiota to be individual-specific. The effect of other factors, such as genotype and environment, have not yet been studied in cats, but have been shown to be potentially important in shaping the cutaneous microbiota of other animals. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of these factors on the bacterial and fungal microbiota of feline skin and oral cavity. The influence of genotype was assessed through the analysis of different cat breeds, and the influence of environment through comparison of indoor and outdoor cats. DNA was extracted from skin and oral swabs, and bacterial and fungal next-generation sequencing were performed. Analysis of the skin microbiota of different cat breeds revealed significant differences in alpha diversity, with Sphynx and Bengal cats having the most diverse communities. Many taxa were found to be differentially abundant between cat breeds, including Veillonellaceae and Malassezia spp. Outdoor environment exposure had considerable influence on beta diversity, especially in the oral cavity, and resulted in numerous differentially abundant taxa. Our findings indicate that the oral bacterial microbiota and both fungal and bacterial microbiota of feline skin are influenced by breed, and to a lesser degree, environment.
先前的研究表明，猫的皮肤细菌微生物群是特定部位的，而真菌微生物群是个体特有的。其他因素（如基因型和环境）对猫的皮肤微生物群的影响尚未研究，但已表明这些因素可能对其他动物的皮肤微生物群有重要影响。因此，本研究的目的是评估这些因素对猫皮肤和口腔细菌和真菌微生物群的影响。通过分析不同的猫品种来评估基因型的影响，通过比较室内和室外猫来评估环境的影响。从皮肤和口腔拭子中提取 DNA，并进行细菌和真菌下一代测序。对不同猫品种的皮肤微生物群进行分析，发现 alpha 多样性存在显著差异，无毛猫和孟加拉猫的群落多样性最高。发现许多分类群在猫品种之间存在差异丰度，包括韦荣球菌科和马拉色菌属。户外环境暴露对 beta 多样性有很大影响，尤其是在口腔中，导致许多分类群存在差异丰度。我们的研究结果表明，猫的口腔细菌微生物群以及皮肤的真菌和细菌微生物群都受到品种的影响，在较小程度上也受到环境的影响。
