Prabhu Vandana R, Kamalakkannan Ranganathan, Arjun Moolamkudy Suresh, Nagarajan Muniyandi
Department of Genomic Science, School of Biological Sciences, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, India.
Institute for Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Front Microbiol. 2020 Feb 25;11:133. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00133. eCollection 2020.
Although the gut microbiome benefits the host in several ways, how anthropogenic forces impact the gut microbiome of mammals is not yet completely known. Recent studies have noted reduced gut microbiome diversity in captive mammals due to changes in diet and living environment. However, no studies have been carried out to understand how the gut microbiome of wild mammals responds to domestication. We analyzed the gut microbiome of wild and captive gaur and domestic mithun (domestic form of gaur) to understand whether the gut microbiome exhibits sequential changes from wild to captivity and after domestication. Both captive and domestic populations were characterized by reduced microbial diversity and abundance as compared to their wild counterparts. Notably, two beneficial bacterial families, and , which are known to play vital roles in herbivores' digestion, exhibited lower abundance in captive and domestic populations. Consequently, the predicted bacterial functional pathways especially related to metabolism and immune system showed lower abundance in captive and domestic populations compared to wild population. Therefore, we suggest that domestication can impact the gut microbiome more severely than captivity, which might lead to adverse effects on host health and fitness. However, further investigations are required across a wide range of domesticates in order to understand the general trend of microbiome shifts in domestic animals.
尽管肠道微生物群在多个方面对宿主有益，但人为因素如何影响哺乳动物的肠道微生物群尚未完全清楚。最近的研究指出，由于饮食和生活环境的变化，圈养哺乳动物的肠道微生物群多样性降低。然而，尚未开展任何研究来了解野生哺乳动物的肠道微生物群如何应对驯化。我们分析了野生白肢野牛和圈养白肢野牛以及驯化野牛（白肢野牛的家养形式）的肠道微生物群，以了解肠道微生物群是否呈现从野生到圈养再到驯化后的连续变化。与野生种群相比，圈养和家养种群的微生物多样性和丰度均降低。值得注意的是，已知在食草动物消化过程中发挥重要作用的两个有益细菌家族，即[此处原文缺失两个细菌家族名称]，在圈养和家养种群中的丰度较低。因此，与野生种群相比，圈养和家养种群中预测的细菌功能途径，尤其是与代谢和免疫系统相关的途径，丰度较低。所以，我们认为驯化对肠道微生物群的影响可能比圈养更严重，这可能会对宿主健康和适应性产生不利影响。然而，需要对广泛的家养动物进行进一步研究，以了解家畜微生物群变化的总体趋势。
