College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, Jiangxi, China.
BMC Microbiol. 2021 Nov 10;21(1):312. doi: 10.1186/s12866-021-02377-x.
Rabbit can produce meat, fur and leather, and serves as an important biomedical animal model. Understanding the microbial community of rabbits helps to raise rabbits healthily and better support their application as animal models.
In this study, we selected 4 healthy Belgium gray rabbits to collect the microbial samples from 12 body sites, including skin, lung, uterus, mouth, stomach, duodenum, ileum, jejunum, colon, cecum, cecal appendix and rectum. The microbiota across rabbit whole body was investigated via 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. After quality control, 46 samples were retained, and 3,148 qualified ASVs were obtained, representing 23 phyla and 264 genera. Based on the weighted UniFrac distances, these samples were divided into the large intestine (Lin), stomach and small intestine (SSin), uterus (Uter), and skin, mouth and lung (SML) groups. The diversity of Lin microbiota was the highest, followed by those of the SSin, Uter and SML groups. In the whole body, Firmicutes (62.37%), Proteobacteria (13.44%) and Bacteroidota (11.84%) were the most predominant phyla. The relative abundance of Firmicutes in the intestinal tract was significantly higher than that in the non-intestinal site, while Proteobacteria was significantly higher in the non-intestinal site. Among the 264 genera, 35 were the core microbiota distributed in all body sites. Sixty-one genera were specific in the SML group, while 13, 8 and 1 were specifically found in the Lin, SSin and Uter groups, respectively. The Lin group had the most difference with other groups, there were average 72 differential genera between the Lin and other groups. The functional prediction analysis showed that microbial function within each group was similar, but there was a big difference between the intestinal tracts and the non-intestinal group. Notably, the function of microorganism in uterus and mouth were the most different from those in the gastrointestinal sites; rabbit's coprophagy of consuming soft feces possibly resulted in little differences of microbial function between stomach and large intestinal sites.
Our findings improve the knowledge about rabbit microbial communities throughout whole body and give insights into the relationship of microbial communities among different body sites in health rabbits.
兔子可以产肉、皮毛和皮革，并且是重要的生物医学动物模型。了解兔子的微生物群落有助于健康饲养兔子，并更好地支持它们作为动物模型的应用。
本研究选择 4 只健康的比利时灰色兔，从 12 个部位（皮肤、肺、子宫、口腔、胃、十二指肠、回肠、空肠、结肠、盲肠、盲肠阑尾和直肠）采集微生物样本。通过 16S rRNA 基因扩增子测序对兔子全身的微生物群进行研究。经过质量控制，保留了 46 个样本，获得了 3148 个合格的 ASVs，代表 23 个门和 264 个属。基于加权 UniFrac 距离，这些样本分为大肠（Lin）、胃和小肠（SSin）、子宫（Uter）和皮肤、口腔和肺（SML）组。Lin 微生物群的多样性最高，其次是 SSin、Uter 和 SML 组。在整个身体中，厚壁菌门（Firmicutes）（62.37%）、变形菌门（Proteobacteria）（13.44%）和拟杆菌门（Bacteroidota）（11.84%）是最主要的门。肠道内的 Firmicutes 相对丰度明显高于非肠道部位，而 Proteobacteria 则明显高于非肠道部位。在 264 个属中，有 35 个核心微生物群分布在所有部位。61 个属在 SML 组中是特异性的，而 13、8 和 1 个分别在 Lin、SSin 和 Uter 组中是特异性的。Lin 组与其他组的差异最大，Lin 组与其他组之间平均有 72 个差异属。功能预测分析表明，每个组内的微生物功能相似，但肠道和非肠道组之间存在很大差异。值得注意的是，子宫和口腔内微生物的功能与胃肠道部位的微生物功能差异最大；兔子通过食软粪的习性可能导致胃和大肠部位微生物功能差异较小。
本研究结果提高了对兔子全身微生物群落的认识，并深入了解了健康兔子不同部位微生物群落之间的关系。
