Pereira André C, Bandeira Victor, Fonseca Carlos, Cunha Mónica V
INIAV, IP- National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinary Research, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal.
Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
Microorganisms. 2020 Mar 11;8(3):392. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms8030392.
The Egyptian mongoose () is a medium-size carnivore that, in Europe, is restricted to Iberia. The bio-ecology of this species remains to be elucidated in several dimensions, including gut microbiota that is nowadays recognized as a fundamental component of mammals. In this work, we investigated the gut microbiota of this herpestid by single-molecule real-time sequencing of twenty paired male ( = 10) and female ( = 10) intestinal samples. This culture-independent approach enabled microbial profiling based on 16S rDNA and investigation of taxonomical and functional features. The core gut microbiome of the adult subpopulation was dominated by Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Proteobacteria. Eight genera were uniquely found in adults and five in non-adults. When comparing gut bacterial communities across sex, four genera were exclusive of females and six uniquely found in males. Despite these compositional distinctions, alpha- and beta-diversity analyses showed no statistically significant differences across sex or between adult and non-adult specimens. However, when function was inferred, males presented a significantly higher abundance of amino acid and citrate cycle metabolic pathways, compared to the significant overrepresentation in females of galactose metabolic pathways. Additionally, adults exhibited a significantly higher abundance of cationic antimicrobial peptide resistance pathways, while non-adults bared a significant overrepresentation of two-component systems associated with antibiotic synthesis, flagellin and biofilm production, and chemotaxis control. This study adds new insights into the mongoose bio-ecology palette, highlighting taxonomical and functional microbiome dissimilarities across sex and age classes, possibly related to primary production resources and life-history traits that impact on behavior and diet.
埃及獴（）是一种中型食肉动物，在欧洲，其分布仅限于伊比利亚半岛。该物种的生物生态学在多个方面仍有待阐明，包括如今被认为是哺乳动物基本组成部分的肠道微生物群。在这项研究中，我们通过对20对雄性（ = 10）和雌性（ = 10）肠道样本进行单分子实时测序，研究了这种獴科动物的肠道微生物群。这种不依赖培养的方法能够基于16S rDNA进行微生物分析，并研究分类学和功能特征。成年亚群的核心肠道微生物群主要由厚壁菌门、梭杆菌门、放线菌门和变形菌门组成。在成年个体中独特发现了8个属，在未成年个体中发现了5个属。在比较不同性别的肠道细菌群落时，有4个属仅在雌性中存在，6个属仅在雄性中独特发现。尽管存在这些组成差异，但α-多样性和β-多样性分析表明，不同性别之间或成年与未成年样本之间在统计学上没有显著差异。然而，在推断功能时，与雌性中半乳糖代谢途径的显著过度表达相比，雄性中氨基酸和柠檬酸循环代谢途径的丰度显著更高。此外，成年个体中阳离子抗菌肽抗性途径的丰度显著更高，而未成年个体中与抗生素合成、鞭毛蛋白和生物膜产生以及趋化性控制相关的双组分系统显著过度表达。这项研究为獴的生物生态学增添了新的见解，突出了不同性别和年龄组之间分类学和功能微生物群的差异，这可能与影响行为和饮食的初级生产资源和生活史特征有关。
