Yu Yanze, Wang Jiaming, Shi Luyi, Sun Hongyu, Cheng Boxing, Sun Yue
School of Biological Sciences, Guizhou Education University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China.
Wildlife Institute of Heilongjiang Province, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.
Front Microbiol. 2025 Jul 30;16:1614319. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1614319. eCollection 2025.
The gut microbiota is crucial for maintaining health, enhancing digestive efficiency, and promoting the development of the immune system of the host. However, for the endangered waterfowl, the scaly-sided merganser (), the physiological role of the composition and structure of its gut microbiota during its growth and development remains unclear. Herein, we conducted fecal metagenomic analyses on adult and subadult populations to assess differences in the gut microbiota composition and function within the same habitat. The results revealed that this species harbors a diverse gut microbiota assemblage, with Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes being the dominant phyla in adults and subadults. Notably, the abundance of the Firmicutes phylum is higher in adult, while the Actinobacteria phylum is more abundant in subadult individuals. There are significant differences in the diversity of the gut microbiota between the two age groups of the scaly-sided merganser. The alpha diversity index shows that the species richness and evenness of gut microbiota in adult scaly-sided merganser are higher than those in subadult individuals. Functional gene enrichment analysis further indicated that the adult gut microbiota had a higher ability to synthesize acetyl-CoA and pyruvate, along with enhanced conversion of acetyl-CoA to acetate. These findings suggest that the gut microbiota of the scaly-sided merganser can play a crucial role in concert with the host during the energy metabolism process in the growth and development stage. This study provides foundational data on the gut microbiota structure and function of this species and enhances our understanding of microbial dynamics during waterfowl development.
肠道微生物群对于维持健康、提高消化效率以及促进宿主免疫系统的发育至关重要。然而，对于濒危水禽中华秋沙鸭而言，其肠道微生物群的组成和结构在其生长发育过程中的生理作用仍不清楚。在此，我们对成年和亚成年群体进行了粪便宏基因组分析，以评估同一栖息地内肠道微生物群组成和功能的差异。结果显示，该物种拥有多样的肠道微生物群落，厚壁菌门、放线菌门、变形菌门和拟杆菌门是成年和亚成年个体中的优势菌门。值得注意的是，厚壁菌门在成年个体中的丰度较高，而放线菌门在亚成年个体中更为丰富。中华秋沙鸭两个年龄组的肠道微生物群多样性存在显著差异。α多样性指数表明，成年中华秋沙鸭肠道微生物群的物种丰富度和均匀度高于亚成年个体。功能基因富集分析进一步表明，成年肠道微生物群合成乙酰辅酶A和丙酮酸的能力较强，同时乙酰辅酶A向乙酸的转化增强。这些发现表明，中华秋沙鸭的肠道微生物群在生长发育阶段的能量代谢过程中可与宿主协同发挥关键作用。本研究提供了该物种肠道微生物群结构和功能的数据基础，并增进了我们对水禽发育过程中微生物动态的理解。
