Seasonal Dietary Shifts Alter the Gut Microbiota of Avivorous Bats: Implication for Adaptation to Energy Harvest and Nutritional Utilization.

ABSTRACT: Plasticity in the microbial community composition and function can permit the host to adapt to ecological, environmental, and physiological changes. Much of the information on the gut microbiota-host relationship to date derives from studies of laboratory model organisms, while little is known concerning wild animals and their ecological relevance to gut microbes. It is also unclear how microbial community composition and activity adapt to changes in diet and energy, nutritional requirements, and utilization induced by dietary expansion from invertebrates to vertebrates. The great evening bat (Ia io) is both an insectivore and an avivore (that is, a bird-eater), and thus provides an opportunity to investigate the diet-host-microbiota-physiology relationship. Here, we investigated this rela

SUBMITTER: Gong L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8386476 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature