Kou Xiyan, Liu Yihong, Xiang Fokun, Zhang Xinyue, Khan Muhammad Zahoor, Wu Boxian, Wang Hua, Gong Yanlin, Wang Changfa, Ma Qingshan, Li Yan
School of Agricultural Science and Engineering, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng 252000, China.
Shandong Dong'e Black Donkey Husbandry Technology Co., Ltd., Liaocheng 252000, China.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Dec 16;14(24):3625. doi: 10.3390/ani14243625.
The gut microbiota plays an important role in the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of nutrients, as well as in the immunity, health, and behavior of donkeys. While reference genomes and gut microbial gene catalogs have been helpful in understanding the composition of the donkey, there is still a significant gap in sequencing and understanding the functional aspects of donkey gut microbial genomes. In this study, we analyzed metagenomic sequencing data from 26 donkeys' gut samples and successfully assembled 844 microbial metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). Surprisingly, 678 (80.33%) of these MAGs appear to belong to previously unidentified species. Our analysis further revealed a total of 292,980 predicted carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) and 257,893 polysaccharide utilization loci (PULs). Interestingly, these enzymes and loci displayed relatively low similarity matches in public databases. We found that the higher abundances of 36 MAGs in the cecum (such as , , , and ) and 9 MAGs in the dorsal colon (such as , , and ) were associated with a diverse array of carbohydrate-degrading pathways. Network analysis identified and as connectors, while and were shown as provincial hubs. This suggests their crucial roles in complex carbohydrate degradation and hindgut metabolism in donkeys. These findings underscore the complexity of hindgut metabolism in donkeys and expand our understanding of their gut microbiome. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive catalog of donkey gut microbial genes, revealing novel carbohydrate-degrading enzymes and offering new insights for future research on the donkey gut microbiome.
肠道微生物群在营养物质的消化、吸收和代谢以及驴的免疫、健康和行为中发挥着重要作用。虽然参考基因组和肠道微生物基因目录有助于了解驴的组成，但在对驴肠道微生物基因组的功能方面进行测序和理解上仍存在显著差距。在本研究中，我们分析了来自26头驴肠道样本的宏基因组测序数据，并成功组装了844个微生物宏基因组组装基因组（MAG）。令人惊讶的是，这些MAG中有678个（80.33%）似乎属于以前未鉴定的物种。我们的分析进一步揭示了总共292,980个预测的碳水化合物活性酶（CAZyme）和257,893个多糖利用位点（PUL）。有趣的是，这些酶和位点在公共数据库中的相似性匹配相对较低。我们发现盲肠中36个MAG（如 、 、 、和 ）丰度较高，背侧结肠中9个MAG（如 、 、和 ）丰度较高，这与多种碳水化合物降解途径相关。网络分析确定 和 为连接物，而 和 被显示为省级枢纽。这表明它们在驴的复杂碳水化合物降解和后肠代谢中起着关键作用。这些发现强调了驴后肠代谢的复杂性，并扩展了我们对其肠道微生物群的理解。总体而言，本研究提供了一份驴肠道微生物基因的综合目录，揭示了新的碳水化合物降解酶，并为未来对驴肠道微生物群的研究提供了新的见解。
