Dataset Information

Lignocellulose Fermentation Products Generated by Giant Panda Gut Microbiomes Depend Ultimately on pH Rather than Portion of Bamboo: A Preliminary Study.

ABSTRACT: Giant pandas feed almost exclusively on bamboo but miss lignocellulose-degrading genes. Their gut microbiome may contribute to their nutrition; however, the limited access to pandas makes experimentation difficult. In vitro incubation of dung samples is used to infer gut microbiome activity. In pandas, such tests indicated that green leaves are largely fermented to ethanol at neutral pH and yellow pith to lactate at acidic pH. Pandas may feed on either green leaves or yellow pith within the same day, and it is unclear how pH, dung sample, fermentation products and supplied bamboo relate to one another. Additionally, the gut microbiome contribution to solid bamboo digestion must be appropriately assessed. Here, gut microbiomes derived from dung samples with mixed colors were used to ferment green leaves, also by artificially adjusting the initial pH. Gut microbiomes digestion of solid lignocellulose accounted for 30-40% of the detected final fermentation products. At pH 6.5, mixed-color dung samples had the same fermentation profile as green dung samples (mainly alcohols), while adjusting the initial pH to 4.5 resulted in the profile of yellow dung samples (mainly lactate). Metaproteomics confirmed that gut microbiomes attacked hemicellulose, and that the panda's alpha amylase was the predominant enzyme (up to 75%).

SUBMITTER: Scoma A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9146640 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Lignocellulose Fermentation Products Generated by Giant Panda Gut Microbiomes Depend Ultimately on pH Rather than Portion of Bamboo: A Preliminary Study.

Scoma Alberto A Khor Way Cern WC Coma Marta M Heyer Robert R Props Ruben R Bouts Tim T Benndorf Dirk D Li Desheng D Zhang Hemin H Rabaey Korneel K

Microorganisms 20220507 5

Giant pandas feed almost exclusively on bamboo but miss lignocellulose-degrading genes. Their gut microbiome may contribute to their nutrition; however, the limited access to pandas makes experimentation difficult. In vitro incubation of dung samples is used to infer gut microbiome activity. In pandas, such tests indicated that green leaves are largely fermented to ethanol at neutral pH and yellow pith to lactate at acidic pH. Pandas may feed on either green leaves or yellow pith within the same ...[more]

PMID: 35630422

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Project description:The giant panda is known worldwide for having successfully moved to a diet almost exclusively based on bamboo. Provided that no lignocellulose-degrading enzyme was detected in panda's genome, bamboo digestion is believed to depend on its gut microbiome. However, pandas retain the digestive system of a carnivore, with retention times of maximum 12 h. Cultivation of their unique gut microbiome under controlled laboratory conditions may be a valid tool to understand giant pandas' dietary habits, and provide valuable insights about what component of lignocellulose may be metabolized. Here, we collected gut microbiomes from fresh fecal samples of a giant panda (either entirely green or yellow stools) and supplied them with green leaves or yellow pith (i.e., the peeled stem). Microbial community composition was substrate dependent, and resulted in markedly different fermentation profiles, with yellow pith fermented to lactate and green leaves to lactate, acetate and ethanol, the latter to strikingly high concentrations (∼3%, v:v, within 3.5 h). Microbial metaproteins pointed to hemicellulose rather than cellulose degradation. The alpha-amylase from the giant panda (E.C. 3.2.1.1) was the predominant identified metaprotein, particularly in reactors inoculated with pellets derived from fecal samples (up to 60%). Gut microbiomes assemblage was most prominently impacted by the change in substrate (either leaf or pith). Removal of soluble organics from inocula to force lignocellulose degradation significantly enriched Bacteroides (in green leaf) and Escherichia/Shigella (in yellow pith). Overall, different substrates (either leaf or pith) markedly shaped gut microbiome assemblies and fermentation profiles. The biochemical profile of fermentation products may be an underestimated factor contributing to explain the peculiar dietary behavior of giant pandas, and should be implemented in large scale studies together with short-term lab-scale cultivation of gut microbiomes.

Project description:UNLABELLED:The giant panda evolved from omnivorous bears. It lives on a bamboo-dominated diet at present, but it still retains a typical carnivorous digestive system and is genetically deficient in cellulose-digesting enzymes. To find out whether this endangered mammalian species, like other herbivores, has successfully developed a gut microbiota adapted to its fiber-rich diet, we conducted a 16S rRNA gene-based large-scale structural profiling of the giant panda fecal microbiota. Forty-five captive individuals were sampled in spring, summer, and late autumn within 1 year. Significant intraindividual variations in the diversity and structure of gut microbiota across seasons were observed in this population, which were even greater than the variations between individuals. Compared with published data sets involving 124 gut microbiota profiles from 54 mammalian species, these giant pandas, together with 9 captive and 7 wild individuals investigated previously, showed extremely low gut microbiota diversity and an overall structure that diverged from those of nonpanda herbivores but converged with those of carnivorous and omnivorous bears. The giant panda did not harbor putative cellulose-degrading phylotypes such as Ruminococcaceae and Bacteroides bacteria that are typically enriched in other herbivores, but instead, its microbiota was dominated by Escherichia/Shigella and Streptococcus bacteria. Members of the class Clostridia were common and abundant in the giant panda gut microbiota, but most of the members present were absent in other herbivores and were not phylogenetically related with known cellulolytic lineages. Therefore, the giant panda appears not to have evolved a gut microbiota compatible with its newly adopted diet, which may adversely influence the coevolutionary fitness of this herbivore. IMPORTANCE:The giant panda, an endangered mammalian species endemic to western China, is well known for its unique bamboo diet. Unlike other herbivores that have successfully evolved anatomically specialized digestive systems to efficiently deconstruct fibrous plant matter, the giant panda still retains a gastrointestinal tract typical of carnivores. We characterized the fecal bacterial communities from a giant panda population to determine whether this animal relies on its symbiotic gut microbiota to cope with the complex carbohydrates that dominate its diet, as is common in other herbivores. We found that the giant panda gut microbiota is low in diversity and highly variable across seasons. It also shows an overall composition typical of bears and entirely differentiated from other herbivores, with low levels of putative cellulose-digesting bacteria. The gut microbiota of this herbivore, therefore, may not have well adapted to its highly fibrous diet, suggesting a potential link with its poor digestive efficiency.

Project description:Lipidic metabolites play essential roles in host physiological health and growth performance, serving as the major structural and signaling components of membranes, energy storage molecules, and steroid hormones. Bamboo, as wild giant pandas' exclusive diet, is the main determinant of giant pandas' lipidome, both as a direct source and through microbiota activity. Interestingly, the consumption of bamboo has attracted little attention from a lipidomic perspective. In the current study, we outline the lipidomic atlas of different parts of bamboo. By gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we have been able to obtain the absolute quantification of 35 fatty acids pertaining to short chain fatty acids (8), medium chain fatty acids (6), long chain fatty acids (17), and very long chain fatty acids (4), while liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS) allowed us to obtain the relative quantification of another 1638 lipids. Among the fatty acids quantified in absolute terms, eight showed significantly distinct concentrations among different bamboo parts. Subsequently, we investigated how the giant panda's serum and fecal lipidome adapt to the most important annual change in their diet, represented by the consumption of high amounts of bamboo shoots, typical of spring, the weight-gaining season. Five fatty acids were significantly altered in feces and two in serum, respectively, due to the different levels of bamboo shoot consumption. Furthermore, significant differences of the main bacteria strains were observed in feces between the two groups at the genus level, pertaining to Streptococcus, Leuconostoc, and Vagococcus. Correlations between giant panda fecal microbiome and lipidome were evaluated by Pearson correlation analysis. These findings suggest that a balanced diet, important for the overall lipidomic function and giant panda health, could be reached even in this remarkable case of a single food-based diet, by administering to the giant panda's combinations of different parts of bamboo, with specific lipidome profiles.

Dataset Information

Lignocellulose Fermentation Products Generated by Giant Panda Gut Microbiomes Depend Ultimately on pH Rather than Portion of Bamboo: A Preliminary Study.

Publications

Lignocellulose Fermentation Products Generated by Giant Panda Gut Microbiomes Depend Ultimately on pH Rather than Portion of Bamboo: A Preliminary Study.

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