title: Comparison of the fecal microbiota of dholes high-throughput Illumina sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene.
abstract: Intestinal microbes are part of a complex ecosystem. They have a mutual relationship with the host and play an essential role in maintaining the host's health. To optimize the feeding strategies and improve the health status of the dhole, which is an endangered species, we analyzed the structure of fecal microbes in four captive dholes using high-throughput Illumina sequencing targeting the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. The diversity indexes and rarefaction curves indicated high microbial diversity in the intestines of the four dholes. The average number of operational taxonomical units (OTUs) in the four samples was 1196, but the number of OTUs common to all libraries was 126, suggesting only a few dominant species. Phylogenetic analysis identified 19 prokaryotic phyla from the 16S rRNA gene sequences, of which only 5 phyla were core microbiota: Bacteroidetes (21.63-38.97 %), Firmicutes (20.97-44.01 %), Proteobacteria (9.33-17.60 %), Fusobacteria (9.11-17.90 %), and Actinobacteria (1.22-2.87 %). These five phyla accounted for 97 % of the bacteria in all the dholes apart from one, in which 78 % of the bacteria were from these phyla. The results of our study provide an effective theoretical basis from which to reach an understanding of the biological mechanisms relevant to the protection of this endangered species.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Jingxuan West Street No. 57, Qufu, Shandong, 273165, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Jingxuan West Street No. 57, Qufu, Shandong, 273165, China. zhanghonghai67@126.com.
authors.forename: Honghai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Jingxuan West Street No. 57, Qufu, Shandong, 273165, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Jingxuan West Street No. 57, Qufu, Shandong, 273165, China.
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Jingxuan West Street No. 57, Qufu, Shandong, 273165, China.
authors.forename: Qinguo
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Jingxuan West Street No. 57, Qufu, Shandong, 273165, China.
authors.forename: Jiakuo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Jingxuan West Street No. 57, Qufu, Shandong, 273165, China.
authors.forename: Xiangyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D046028:Canidae / Q000382:microbiology*; D056727:Endangered Species; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D008297:Male; D064307:Microbiota; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: 16S rRNA; Dhole (Cuon alpinus); Fecal microbes; Illumina MiSeq sequencing