title: Comparative analysis of fecal microbial communities in cattle and Bactrian camels.
abstract: Bactrian camels may have a unique gastrointestinal (GI) microbiome because of their distinctive digestive systems, unique eating habits and extreme living conditions. However, understanding of the microbial communities in the Bactrian camel GI tract is still limited. In this study, microbial communities were investigated by comparative analyses of 16S rRNA hypervariable region V4 sequences of fecal bacteria sampled from 94 animals in four population groups: Inner Mongolian cattle (IMG-Cattle), Inner Mongolian domestic Bactrian camels (IMG-DBC), Mongolian domestic Bactrian camels (MG-DBC), and Mongolian wild Bactrian camels (MG-WBC). A total of 2,097,985 high-quality reads were obtained and yielded 471,767,607 bases of sequence. Firmicutes was the predominant phylum in the population groups IMG-Cattle, IMG-DBC and MG-WBC, followed (except in the Inner Mongolian cattle) by Verrucomicrobia. Bacteroidetes were abundant in the IMG-DBC and MG-WBC populations. Hierarchical clustered heatmap analysis revealed that the microbial community composition within the three Bactrian camel groups was relatively similar, and somewhat distinct from that in the cattle. A similar result was determined by principal component analysis, in which the camels grouped together. We also found several species-specific differences in microbial communities at the genus level: for example, Desulfovibrio was abundant in the IMG-DBC and MG-WBC groups; Pseudomonas was abundant in the IMG-Cattle group; and Fibrobacter, Coprobacillus, and Paludibacter were scarce in the MG-WBC group. Such differences may be related to different eating habits and living conditions of the cattle and the various camel populations.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, College of Food Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, College of Food Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Camel Research Institute of Inner Mongolia, Alashan, Inner Mongolia, China.|College of Veterinary Medicine, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors.lastname: Siriguleng
authors.affiliation: Camel Research Institute of Inner Mongolia, Alashan, Inner Mongolia, China.|College of Veterinary Medicine, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors.forename: Surong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hasi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, College of Food Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, College of Food Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, College of Food Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors.forename: Zhaoxia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, College of Food Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors.forename: Fucheng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, College of Food Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors.forename: Xiangyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, College of Food Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.|Camel Research Institute of Inner Mongolia, Alashan, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors.lastname: Jirimutu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002162:Camelus / Q000382:microbiology*; D002417:Cattle; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S