Study on intestinal microbial communities of three different cattle populations on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Abstract

The Tibetan cattle, indispensable·animals on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, have become a focal point for the region's economic development. As such, the hybridization of these cattle has been recognized as a pivotal strategy to enhance the local cattle industry. However, research on the gut microbiota of Tibetan hybrid cattle remains scarce. Based on this, we conducted a comparative analysis of the gut microbiota and its functional implications across three distinct cattle populations: two the hybrid cattle populations (Tibetan local cattle × Holstein cattle, TH and Tibetan local cattle × Jersey cattle, TJ) and one the Tibetan locoal cattle population (BL). Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes dominate the gut microbiota across all populations at the phylum level. In addition, the predominant phyla in BL cattle were found to be Cyanobacteria, Verrucomicrobiota, and Actinobacteria, which may be one of the important reasons for the adaptability of Tibetan local cattle to the high-altitude environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Further analysis identified specific biomarkers associated with the immune systems of BL cattle, including Bacteroidales_RF16, Coriobacterium, and Muribaculaceae. In contrast, TH cattle are primarily dominated by Oscillospiraceae and Clostridia_UCG_014, and TJ cattle are mainly dominated by Christensenellaceae and Gammaproteobacteria. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that BL and TH cattle showed significant enrichment in the immune system, energy metabolism, and amino acid metabolism-related pathways compared with TJ cattle. Overall, these results suggest that BL and TH cattle demonstrate enhanced adaptability compared to TJ cattle, and indicate that intestinal microbiota of cattle at different altitudes and breeds have diverse structures and functions. Our study presents a new perspective on the role of the microbiome in the hybridization and enhancement of Tibetan cattle.

Fig 1. Experimental design.

Fig 2. Statistical analysis of 16S rRNA data.

(A): Intestinal microbial accumulation box type. (B): Rarefaction curves of 30 samples. (C): ASVs distribution of fecal bacterial communities.

Fig 3. α and β diversity of gut microbes.

(A): Shannon index. (B): Simpson index. (C)Non-metric multidimensional scale of gut microbiota (NMDS). (D) PCoA distribution of intestinal microbe ASVs.

Fig 4. Composition and differences in the predominant microbiota at the phylum level (A & C) and among genera (B & D) in different populationsare shown.

The abundance of the microbiota is expressed as a percentage. Statistical significance is denoted by *P < 0.05 and ***P < 0.01.

Fig 5. A. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) analysis of the intestinal microbial composition in different cattle populations.

Fig 6. Based on KEGG intestinal microbial functional enrichment analysis, intestinal microbial enrichment analysis of (A): BL cattle and TH cattle; (B): Enrichment analysis of gut microbes in BL and TJ cattle; (C): Enrichment analysis of gut microbes in TH and TJ cattle.