Gut Site and Gut Morphology Predict Microbiome Structure and Function in Ecologically Diverse Lemurs.
Microb Ecol
; 85(4): 1608-1619, 2023 May.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35562600
ABSTRACT
Most studies of wildlife gut microbiotas understandably rely on feces to approximate consortia along the gastrointestinal tract. We therefore compared microbiome structure and predicted metagenomic function in stomach, small intestinal, cecal, and colonic samples from 52 lemurs harvested during routine necropsies. The lemurs represent seven genera (Cheirogaleus, Daubentonia, Varecia, Hapalemur, Eulemur, Lemur, Propithecus) characterized by diverse feeding ecologies and gut morphologies. In particular, the hosts variably depend on fibrous foodstuffs and show correlative morphological complexity in their large intestines. Across host lineages, microbiome diversity, variability, membership, and function differed between the upper and lower gut, reflecting regional tradeoffs in available nutrients. These patterns related minimally to total gut length but were modulated by fermentation capacity (i.e., the ratio of small to large intestinal length). Irrespective of feeding strategy, host genera with limited fermentation capacity harbored more homogenized microbiome diversity along the gut, whereas those with expanded fermentation capacity harbored cecal and colonic microbiomes with greater diversity and abundant fermentative Ruminococcaceae taxa. While highlighting the value of curated sample repositories for retrospective comparisons, our results confirm that the need to survive on fibrous foods, either routinely or in hypervariable environments, can shape the morphological and microbial features of the lower gut.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Strepsirhini
/
Microbiota
/
Lemur
/
Lemuridae
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Microb Ecol
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos