Comparative analysis of the gut microbiota of black bears in China using high-throughput sequencing

Abstract

The Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) is a protected species from eastern Asia. In China, the Asiatic black bear occurs in 17 provinces from northeast to southwest regions. To date, information on microbial diversity in the gut of the Asiatic black bears from different populations remains limited. To determine the species composition and community structure of the gut microbiota in the Asiatic black bear, we characterized 36 fecal samples from Sichuan, Yunnan, and Heilongjiang provinces, China, by pyrosequencing the 16S V3-V4 hypervariable regions using the Illumina Miseq platform. Results showed that Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the predominant phyla in the samples, which were largely comprised Escherichia-Shigella, Peptostreptococcaceae_incertae_sedis, Turicibacter, Streptococcus, and Clostridium. By analyzing the community structure from these 36 samples, we found that there were significant differences in the species diversity and richness between Sichuan, Yunnan, and Heilongjiang populations. In conclusion, our results reveal the species composition and structure of the gut microbiota in captive black bears in China, and suggest that biogeography could affect the black bear' gut microbiota.

Captivity Shapes the Gut Microbiota of Andean Bears: Insights into Health Surveillance

“…This evidence suggest that the gut microbiota of Andean bears is still an unknown environment. Some studies describing the gut microbiota of other bears species (i.e., black bears, grizzly bears, polar bears, and panda bears), regardless of their diet, have reported that Firmicutes and Proteobacteria are the most common phyla (Glad et al, 2010; Schwab et al, 2011; Zhu et al, 2011; Xue et al, 2015; Song et al, 2017), being consistent with our results. However, our data suggest a higher prevalence of Proteobacteria than Firmicutes and comparison between studies should be made carefully, since they used different sequencing strategies that could be an important confounding factor to make conclusive comparisons with our data.…”

“…Captive individuals receive almost the same diet, but wild individuals can feed on different resources depending on availability and movements across their home ranges (Peyton, 2008; García-Rangel, 2012; Figueroa, 2013). Previous evidence from Asiatic black bears, has shown that biogeography of captive individuals (feed on a standard zoo diet) appears to be a main factor influencing differences between individuals (Song et al, 2017). In this study, captive Andean bears were maintained in enclosures within the same ecosystem, sharing the same location and climatic conditions, and limited variation was displayed between individuals.…”

Potential TMA-Producing Bacteria Are Ubiquitously Found in Mammalia

“…This is in accordance with the results of their total bacterial communities being more similar to those of omnivorous and herbivorous animals than to those of other carnivores (Figure 2 and Supplementary Figure S1). In contrast, previous reports described the black bear as an omnivorous animal (Ley et al, 2008;Muegge et al, 2011;Song et al, 2017) that was characterized by Carnivora-like microbial communities (Ley et al, 2008;Muegge et al, 2011).…”

Comparative analyses of the gut microbiota among three different wild geese species in the genus Anser

“…Furthermore, among the three groups, we found no differences in the microbial community richness, but we also found that Bar‐headed geese group had significantly higher community diversity than the other two groups. We hypothesized that Bar‐headed geese inhabiting the highest altitude regions (sampling regions have an average elevation of 3800 m) had high‐energy requirements, and therefore greater community diversity of gut microbiota would promote higher energy intake .…”