TY - JOUR
T1 - Body-size Scaling is Related to Gut Microbial Diversity, Metabolism and Dietary Niche of Arboreal Folivorous Flying Squirrels
AU - Liu, Po Yu
AU - Cheng, An Chi
AU - Huang, Shiao Wei
AU - Lu, Hsiao Pei
AU - Oshida, Tatsuo
AU - Liu, Wenhua
AU - Yu, Hon Tsen
N1 - Funding Information:
Animals and fecal sample collection. Analysis of gut microbiota was done for four species of flying squirrels: Siberian Flying Squirrel (Pteromys volans orii, PVO; n = 19), Complex Toothed Flying Squirrel (Trogopterus xanthipes, TX; n = 4) and two species of Giant Flying Squirrels (Petaurista philippensis grandis, PPG; n = 3 and P. alborufus lena, PAL; n = 3). Fecal samples from PVO flying squirrels were collected during a mark-recapture study conducted from May to August in 2013 and 2014 at The University of Tokyo Hokkaido Forest in Furano City (Hokkaido, Japan). Permits for live trapping were approved by Hokkaido Government Kamikawa General Subprefecture Bureau (No. 45 in 2013 and No. 10 in 2014) and by The University of Tokyo Hokkaido Forest (No. A13-12 in 2013 and No. A14-07 in 2014). These samples were sequenced in our previous study32; sequence reads were retrieved from NCBI Sequence Read Archive database (accession numbers: SRX3793743-SRX3793761). Fecal samples of both PAL and PPG were collected from wild individuals in March 2013 and in March-April 2014 at Wulai District, New Taipei City, Taiwan (collection permissions No. 1023228856 and No. 1022101678 were granted by the Government of New Taipei City and Forestry Bureau, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan in 2013 and 2014), in accordance with the Wildlife Conservation Act33. The TX squirrels were farmed animals (Supplementary Text) and fed Chinese arborvitae (Platycladus orientalis) leaves, pine nuts, acorns, etc. (Shangluo, Shaanxi Province, China)30,31For these animals, fecal samples were collected from their cages in May, 2012 and genomic DNA extraction. We did noimmediately preserved in RNAlater®t retain live animals for any sampling. Feces of TX squirrels are used in folk (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Carlsbad, CA, USA) for subsequent bacterial
Funding Information:
We acknowledge helpful comments from Sen-Ling Tang, Chun-Yao Chen, Ting-Chun Kuo, and John Wang. We thank A. Sanyoshi and K. Iguchi of the University of Tokyo Hokkaido Forest for their cooperation in the field. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in Taiwan (MOST 103-2311-B-002-001, MOST 106-2633-B-006-004, MOST 105-2622-B-002-001-CC1, MOST 104-2622-B-002-003-CC1, and MOST 103-2622-B-002-009-CC1), and the “International Center for the Scientific Development of Shrimp Aquaculture” of MOST Excellent Research Center (MOST 107-3017-F-006-001, MOST 108-3017-F-006-001, and MOST 109-2634-F-006-022) and the Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education SPROUT Project of Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Thermal homeostasis of mammals is constrained by body-size scaling. Consequently, small mammals require considerable energy to maintain a high mass-specific metabolic rate (MSMR) and sustain target body temperature. In association with gut microbiota, mammalian hosts acquire absorbable molecules and fulfill their metabolic requirements. Our objective was to characterize gut microbes in wild mammals and relate those findings to host body-size scaling. Two large (Petaurista philippensis grandis and P. alborufus lena), one medium (Trogopterus xanthipes) and one small (Pteromys volans orii) species of flying squirrels (FS) were studied. Using 16S rRNA genes, 1,104 OTUs were detected from four FS, with 1.99% of OTUs shared among all FS. Although all FS gut microbiota were dominated by Firmicutes, they were constituted by different bacterial families. Moreover, Bacteroidetes accounted for up to 19% of gut microbiota in small FS, but was absent in large FS. Finally, based on metagenome predictions, carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism genes were enriched in small body-size FS. In conclusion, gut microbiota compositions and predictive metabolic functions were characteristic of body-size in FS, consistent with their adaptations to folivorous dietary niches.
AB - Thermal homeostasis of mammals is constrained by body-size scaling. Consequently, small mammals require considerable energy to maintain a high mass-specific metabolic rate (MSMR) and sustain target body temperature. In association with gut microbiota, mammalian hosts acquire absorbable molecules and fulfill their metabolic requirements. Our objective was to characterize gut microbes in wild mammals and relate those findings to host body-size scaling. Two large (Petaurista philippensis grandis and P. alborufus lena), one medium (Trogopterus xanthipes) and one small (Pteromys volans orii) species of flying squirrels (FS) were studied. Using 16S rRNA genes, 1,104 OTUs were detected from four FS, with 1.99% of OTUs shared among all FS. Although all FS gut microbiota were dominated by Firmicutes, they were constituted by different bacterial families. Moreover, Bacteroidetes accounted for up to 19% of gut microbiota in small FS, but was absent in large FS. Finally, based on metagenome predictions, carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism genes were enriched in small body-size FS. In conclusion, gut microbiota compositions and predictive metabolic functions were characteristic of body-size in FS, consistent with their adaptations to folivorous dietary niches.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41598-020-64801-y
DO - 10.1038/s41598-020-64801-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 32385374
AN - SCOPUS:85084293353
VL - 10
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
SN - 2045-2322
IS - 1
M1 - 7809
ER -