Comparative Analysis of Gut Microbiomes in Laboratory Chinchillas, Ferrets, and Marmots: Implications for Pathogen Infection Research.

Gut microbes play a vital role in the health and disease of animals, especially in relation to pathogen infections. Chinchillas, ferrets, and marmots are commonly used as important laboratory animals for infectious disease research. Here, we studied the bacterial and fungal microbiota and discovered that chinchillas had higher alpha diversity and a higher abundance of bacteria compared to marmots and ferrets by using the metabarcoding of 16S rRNA genes and ITS2, coupled with co-occurrence network analysis. The dominant microbes varied significantly among the three animal species, particularly in the gut mycobiota. In the ferrets, the feces were dominated by yeast such as and , while in the , we found and dominating, and , , and in the marmots. Nevertheless, the dominant bacterial genera shared some similarities, such as and across the three animal species. However, there were significant differences observed, such as and in the ferrets, and in the chinchillas, and and in the marmots. Additionally, our differential analysis revealed significant differences in classification levels among the three different animal species, as well as variations in feeding habitats that resulted in distinct contributions from the host microbiome. Therefore, our data are valuable for monitoring and evaluating the impacts of the microbiome, as well as considering potential applications.