Comparison of the gut microbiotas of laboratory and wild Asian house shrews (Suncus murinus) based on cloned 16S rRNA sequences.

ABSTRACT: The Asian house shrew, Suncus murinus, is an insectivore (Eulipotyphla, Mammalia) and an important laboratory animal for life-science studies. The gastrointestinal tract of Suncus is simple: the length of the entire intestine is very short relative to body size, the large intestine is quite short, and there are no fermentative chambers such as the forestomach or cecum. These features imply that Suncus has a different nutritional physiology from those of humans and mice, but little is known about whether Suncus utilizes microbial fermentation in the large (LI) or small (SI) intestine. In addition, domestication may affect the gastrointestinal microbial diversity of Suncus. Therefore, we compared the gastrointestinal microbial diversity of Suncus between laboratory and wild Suncus and betwee

SUBMITTER: Shinohara A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6842809 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature