Shah Tariq, Guo Xusheng, Ahmad Gulraiz, Ishaq Muhammad, Din Ahmad Ud, Sardar Sadia, Ding Luming
Sichuan Provincial Forest and Grassland Key Laboratory of Alpine Grassland Conservation and Utilization of Tibetan Plateau, Institute of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, College of Grassland Resources, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, 610041, China.
State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020, China.
BMC Microbiol. 2025 May 16;25(1):301. doi: 10.1186/s12866-025-04011-6.
The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) offers one of the most extreme environments for yaks (Bos grunniens). The yak is an indigenous species, and the wild yak was domesticated on the QTP. The gut microbiota plays a vital role in health and animal performance. However, little is known about the progression of gut microbes in different age developmental stages of domesticated yaks.
We used the 16 S rRNA gene sequencing method to explore the progression of the fecal bacterial microbiota of 18 different confined domestic yaks at two developmental stages: 3 to 5 years (GT35) and 6 to 8 years (GT68).
We found significant differences in gut bacterial communities between the two age groups. The diversity of the gut bacterial community was significantly lower in the GT35 group, which reached stability with age. Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the two dominant phyla between the two age groups. Phylum Firmicutes was significantly higher in the GT68 group, and Proteobacteria, Spirochaetes, Tenericutes, and Actinobacteria were highly abundant in the GT35 age group. Genera Bacteroides, Alloprevotella, and Anaerovibrio were abundant in the GT35 group. The short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) producing bacteria Rikenellaceae showed higher abundance in GT35. The core bacterial microbiota of the GT68 age group was dominated by Ruminococcaceae and Rikenellaceae. The gut bacterial community has a great variation between the groups. Based on the exploration of dynamic changes in the gut bacterial community at different ages, our results illustrate that yaks undergo a process of reaching stability and maturity as they age.
青藏高原为牦牛（Bos grunniens）提供了最为极端的生存环境之一。牦牛是本土物种，野生牦牛在青藏高原被驯化。肠道微生物群对健康和动物性能起着至关重要的作用。然而，对于家养牦牛不同年龄发育阶段肠道微生物的变化情况知之甚少。
我们采用16S rRNA基因测序方法，探究了18头不同圈养家养牦牛在两个发育阶段（3至5岁（GT35）和6至8岁（GT68））粪便细菌微生物群的变化情况。
我们发现两个年龄组之间的肠道细菌群落存在显著差异。GT35组肠道细菌群落的多样性显著较低，且随年龄增长达到稳定。拟杆菌门和厚壁菌门是两个年龄组中的两个主要门类。厚壁菌门在GT68组中显著更高，而变形菌门、螺旋体门、柔膜菌门和放线菌门在GT35年龄组中含量丰富。拟杆菌属、别普雷沃菌属和厌氧弧菌属在GT35组中含量丰富。产生短链脂肪酸（SCFA）的细菌理研菌科在GT35组中丰度更高。GT68年龄组的核心细菌微生物群以瘤胃球菌科和理研菌科为主。不同组之间肠道细菌群落差异很大。基于对不同年龄肠道细菌群落动态变化的探究，我们的结果表明牦牛随着年龄增长会经历一个达到稳定和成熟的过程。
