Dataset Information

Captivity Shapes the Gut Microbiota of Andean Bears: Insights into Health Surveillance.

ABSTRACT: The Andean bear is an endemic species of the tropical Andes who has an almost exclusively plant-based diet. Since herbivorous mammals do not carry enzymes for fiber degradation, the establishment of symbiosis with cellulolytic microorganisms in their gastrointestinal (GI) tract is necessary to help them fulfill their nutritional needs. Furthermore, as described for other mammals, a stable, diverse, and balanced gut microbial composition is an indicator of a healthy status of the host; under disturbances this balance can be lost, leading to potential diseases of the host. The goal of this study was to describe the gut microbiota of wild and captive Andean bears and determine how habitat status influences the composition and diversity of the gut symbiotic community. Fecal samples from wild (n = 28) and captive (n = 8) Andean bears were collected in "Reserva Pantano de Martos" and "Fundación Bioandina", Colombia. Composition and diversity analyses were performed using amplicons from the V4 region of the 16S rDNA gene sequenced using the Ion PGM platform. PICRUSt algorithm was applied to predict the gene content of the gut microbiome of wild and captive Andean bears. A total of 5,411 and 838 OTUs were identified for wild and captive bears, respectively. Captive bears contained a lower number of bacterial phyla (n = 7) compared to wild individuals (n = 9). Proteobacteria (59.03%) and Firmicutes (14.03%) were the phyla that contributed the most to differences between wild and captive bears (overall dissimilarity = 87.72%). At family level, Enterobacteriaceae drove the main differences between the two groups (13.7%). PICRUSt metagenomics predictions suggested a similar pattern of relative abundance of gene families associated with the metabolism of carbohydrates across samples in wild individuals, despite the taxonomic differences of their gut microbiota. Captivity alters the availability and diversity of food resources, which likely reduces microbiota richness and diversity compared to wild individuals. Further considerations should be taken into account for nutritional schemes improving ex-situ conservation and its potential as a surveillance tool of endangered populations of wild Andean bears.

SUBMITTER: Borbon-Garcia A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5507997 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Captivity Shapes the Gut Microbiota of Andean Bears: Insights into Health Surveillance.

Borbón-García Andrea A Reyes Alejandro A Vives-Flórez Martha M Caballero Susana S

Frontiers in microbiology 20170713

The Andean bear is an endemic species of the tropical Andes who has an almost exclusively plant-based diet. Since herbivorous mammals do not carry enzymes for fiber degradation, the establishment of symbiosis with cellulolytic microorganisms in their gastrointestinal (GI) tract is necessary to help them fulfill their nutritional needs. Furthermore, as described for other mammals, a stable, diverse, and balanced gut microbial composition is an indicator of a healthy status of the host; under dist ...[more]

PMID: 28751883

Similar Datasets

Project description:The effect of oral microbiota on the intestinal microbiota has garnered growing attention as a mechanism linking periodontal diseases to systemic diseases. However, the salivary microbiota is diverse and comprises numerous bacteria with a largely similar composition in healthy individuals and periodontitis patients. Thus, the systemic effects of small differences in the oral microbiota are unclear. In this study, we explored how health-associated and periodontitis-associated salivary microbiota differently colonized the intestine and their subsequent systemic effects by analyzing the hepatic gene expression and serum metabolomic profiles. The salivary microbiota was collected from a healthy individual and a periodontitis patient and gavaged into C57BL/6NJcl[GF] mice. Samples were collected five weeks after administration. Gut microbial communities were analyzed by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Hepatic gene expression profiles were analyzed using a DNA microarray and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Serum metabolites were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The gut microbial composition at the genus level was significantly different between periodontitis-associated microbiota-administered (PAO) and health-associated oral microbiota-administered (HAO) mice. The hepatic gene expression profile demonstrated a distinct pattern between the two groups, with higher expression of Neat1, Mt1, Mt2, and Spindlin1, which are involved in lipid and glucose metabolism. Disease-associated metabolites such as 2-hydroxyisobutyric acid and hydroxybenzoic acid were elevated in PAO mice. These metabolites were significantly correlated with Bifidobacterium, Atomobium, Campylobacter, and Haemophilus, which are characteristic taxa in PAO mice. Conversely, health-associated oral microbiota were associated with higher levels of beneficial serum metabolites in HAO mice. The multi-omics approach used in this study revealed that periodontitis-associated oral microbiota is associated with the induction of disease phenotype when they colonized the gut of germ-free mice.

Dataset Information

Captivity Shapes the Gut Microbiota of Andean Bears: Insights into Health Surveillance.

Publications

Captivity Shapes the Gut Microbiota of Andean Bears: Insights into Health Surveillance.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure