Tibetan wild asses (Equus Kiang) were superior to domestic donkeys (Equus Asinus) in terms of the composition and function of gut microbial community

Abstract

Background: Tibetan wild asses are the only wild species of perissodactyls on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and appears on the International Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN) 2012 Red List of threatened species. The gut microbiota has a great effect on the health and nutrition of the host, however, scant research is available on the characteristics of their intestinal microbiota. Therefor, understanding the gut microbita composition and function of TWAs can provide a theoretical for the situ conservation of wild animals in the future. Results: To characterize its composition and function, we analyzed the intestinal microbiota of wild asses and domestic donkeys by high-throughput sequencing of the 16s rDNA regions. No significant difference in alpha diversity was detected between these two groups. Beta diversity showed that the bacterial community structure of wild asses was acutely different from domestic donkeys. At the phylum level, the two dominant phyla of Bacteroidetes and Firmcutes in wild asses were significantly higher than that in domestic donkeys. At the genus level, Ruminococcaceae_NK4A214 , Phascolarctobacterium , Coprostanoligenes_group , Lachnospiraceae_XPB1014_group and Akkermansia in wild asses were significantly higher than domestic donkeys. Moreover, statistical comparisons showed that 40 different metabolic pathways exhibited significant differences . Among them, 29 pathways had richer concentrations in wild asses than domestic donkeys, mainly amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and energy metabolism. Of note, network analysis showed that wild asses harbored a relatively more complex bacterial network than domestic donkeys, possibly reflecting the specific niche adaption of gut bacterial communities through species interactions. Conclusions: Wild asses were superior to that of domestic in gut microbial community composition and function. For wild animal conservation, wild asses are more suitable to survive in wild than to be domesticated or captive. Key words: Tibetan wild asses, domestic donkeys, 16S ribosomal RNA gene, gut microbiota