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. 2017 Oct;6(5):e00509.
doi: 10.1002/mbo3.509. Epub 2017 Aug 22.

Core fecal microbiota of domesticated herbivorous ruminant, hindgut fermenters, and monogastric animals

Michelle M O' Donnell  1   2 , Hugh M B Harris  2 , R Paul Ross  1   2 , Paul W O'Toole  2
Affiliations

Core fecal microbiota of domesticated herbivorous ruminant, hindgut fermenters, and monogastric animals

Michelle M O' Donnell et al. Microbiologyopen. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

In this pilot study, we determined the core fecal microbiota composition and overall microbiota diversity of domesticated herbivorous animals of three digestion types: hindgut fermenters, ruminants, and monogastrics. The 42 animals representing 10 animal species were housed on a single farm in Ireland and all the large herbivores consumed similar feed, harmonizing two of the environmental factors that influence the microbiota. Similar to other mammals, the fecal microbiota of all these animals was dominated by the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla. The fecal microbiota spanning all digestion types comprised 42% of the genera identified. Host phylogeny and, to a lesser extent, digestion type determined the microbiota diversity in these domesticated herbivores. This pilot study forms a platform for future studies into the microbiota of nonbovine and nonequine domesticated herbivorous animals.

Keywords: diet; herbivore; hindgut; microbiota; monogastric; ruminant.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Heatmap of the median percentage relative abundance of any genus above 1% in the 10 different animal species. Animal digestion types are labeled on the y‐axis of the plot according to the following colors; Hindgut fermenters = olive, Ruminants = Salmon, Pseudoruminants = Light salmon, Monogastric = Grey
Figure 2
Figure 2
UniFrac beta diversity measures (a) unweighted plot for the microbiota of three digestion types (b) unweighted plot for the microbiota of the 10 animal species (c) weighted plot for the microbiota of the three digestion types (d) weighted plot for the microbiota of the 10 animal species
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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