Wild Biotech, Rehovot, Israel.
Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 7610001 Israel.
Science. 2021 Apr 16;372(6539). doi: 10.1126/science.abb5352. Epub 2021 Mar 25.
Animals in the wild are able to subsist on pathogen-infected and poisonous food and show immunity to various diseases. These may be due to their microbiota, yet we have a poor understanding of animal microbial diversity and function. We used metagenomics to analyze the gut microbiota of more than 180 species in the wild, covering diverse classes, feeding behaviors, geographies, and traits. Using de novo metagenome assembly, we constructed and functionally annotated a database of more than 5000 genomes, comprising 1209 bacterial species of which 75% are unknown. The microbial composition, diversity, and functional content exhibit associations with animal taxonomy, diet, activity, social structure, and life span. We identify the gut microbiota of wild animals as a largely untapped resource for the discovery of therapeutics and biotechnology applications.
野生动物能够以感染病原体和有毒的食物为食，并对各种疾病具有免疫力。这可能是由于它们的微生物群落，但我们对动物微生物多样性和功能的了解还很有限。我们使用宏基因组学分析了来自野外的 180 多种物种的肠道微生物群，涵盖了不同的类群、摄食行为、地理位置和特征。通过从头组装宏基因组，我们构建并对一个包含 5000 多个基因组的数据库进行了功能注释，其中包含 1209 种细菌，其中 75%是未知的。微生物组成、多样性和功能含量与动物分类学、饮食、活动、社会结构和寿命有关。我们发现野生动物的肠道微生物群是一个有待开发的资源，可以用于发现治疗方法和生物技术应用。
