Comparative longitudinal metagenomic study of canine gut micriobiome by taxonomical and functional profiling of 17 puppy dogs  and their parents
Canine stool samples were collected in different time points from purebred dogs and their 1st and 2nd generation offsprings in different time points. The aim of the study was to track the development of the gut microbiome in the first year after birth using metagenomic methods. A total of 146 stool samples from 19 individuals were analysed by high coverage 16S and WGS sequencing. The composition of the microbial community was analyzed by using the 16S region sequenced on MinION device from the Oxford Nanopore Technoligies, while the WGS sequencing was conducted on MiSeq Illumina platform.  The generated high quality data can provide information on how the microbiome of newborn puppies shows a heritable pattern and how nutrition influences the early establishment and development of the gut microbiome. We chose the dog litter for our study because it allows us to exclude factors that may significantly influence the microbiome, such as different living environment, different genetic backgrounds, drugs or age. The results coould helpus to better understand how nutrition affects the gut microbiome.