Intestinal microbiota of Zebra Finch Raw sequence reads
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has an extremely harsh environment of low oxygen and high altitude, unlike native birds to the plateau, the tree sparrow (Passer montsnus) adapted to the extreme climate of the plateau in a relatively short period of time is of great exploratory value. The gut microbiota is symbiotic with the host and is one of the key factors regulating host energy metabolism. The impact of gut microbiota on the adaptation of tree sparrows to the plateau environment has yet to be explored. This study used a combination of metagenomic and transcriptomic approaches to explore the changes and correlations of the gut microbiota and gene expression in tree sparrows adapting to high-altitude environments. The results showed that the increase in Lactobacillus, upregulation of ACE, and downregulation of SDC2 in high-altitude tree sparrows may promote energy metabolism and heat production to better adapt to high-altitude environments. The results of microbial community transplantation indicate that high-altitude gut microbiota can promote heat production and cause downregulation of reproductive related genes, which helps maintain energy balance in high-altitude birds. This is the first bacterial transplantation experiment conducted on wild birds to verify the role of gut microbiota in energy metabolism and high-altitude adaptation of tree sparrows.