Gut microbiome as a key monitoring indicator for reintroductions of captive animals

作者：Guangping Huang, Dunwu Qi, Zhisong Yang, Rong Hou, Wenyu Shi, Fangqing Zhao, Zitian Li, Yan Li, Fuwen Wei · 发表于：Conservation Biology · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1111/cobi.14173 · 被引用次数：41 · 研究领域：Gut microbiota and health、Meat and Animal Product Quality、Probiotics and Fermented Foods

Reintroduction programs seek to restore degraded populations and reverse biodiversity loss. To examine the hypothesis that gut symbionts could be used as an indicator of reintroduction success, we performed intensive metagenomic monitoring over 10 years to characterize the ecological succession and adaptive evolution of the gut symbionts of captive giant pandas reintroduced to the wild. We collected 63 fecal samples from 3 reintroduced individuals and 22 from 9 wild individuals and used 96 publicly available samples from another 3 captive individuals. By microbial composition analysis, we identified 3 community clusters of the gut microbiome (here termed enterotypes) with interenterotype succession that was closely related to the reintroduction process. Each of the 3 enterotypes was identified based on significant variation in the levels of 1 of 3 genera: Clostridium, Pseudomonas, and Escherichia. The enterotype of captive pandas was Escherichia. This enterotype was gradually replaced by the Clostridium enterotype during the wild-training process, which in turn was replaced by the Pseudomonas enterotype that resembled the enterotype of wild pandas, an indicator of conversion to wildness and a successful reintroduction. We also isolated 1 strain of Pseudomonas protegens from the wild enterotype, a previously reported free-living microbe, and found that its within-host evolution contributed to host dietary adaptation in the wild. Monitoring gut microbial structure provides a no...