The plant secondary compound swainsonine reshapes gut microbiota in plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae).

ABSTRACT: Plants produce various plant secondary compounds (PSCs) to deter the foraging of herbivorous mammals. However, little is known about whether PSCs can reshape gut microbiota and promote gut homeostasis of hosts. Using 16S rDNA sequencing to investigate the effects of PSCs on the gut microbiota of small herbivorous mammals, we studied plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) fed diets containing swainsonine (SW) extracted from Oxytropis ochrocephala. Our results showed that both long- and short-term treatment of a single artificial diet in the laboratory significantly reduced alpha diversity and significantly affected beta diversity, core bacteria abundance, and bacterial functions in pikas. After SW was added to the artificial diet, the alpha diversity significantly increased in the long-term tre

SUBMITTER: Ren S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8403131 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature