Dynamic distribution of gallbladder microbiota in rabbit at different ages and health states

Abstract

The internal environment of the gallbladder has been considered extremely unfavorable for bacterial growth, and the microbial profile of the gallbladder still unknown. By high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene, we studied the microbial profile of the gallbladder from healthy rabbits before and after weaning. Moreover, we investigated the difference of microbiota between the gallbladder and gut. Our results showed that the gallbladder was dominantly populated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria in the phylum throughout the developmental stages of rabbits. The adult rabbits showed higher species richness and exhibited higher bacterial diversity than rabbits before weaning based on the results of alpha diversity. Beta diversity analyses indicated differences in the bacterial community composition between different developmental stages. In the comparison of the gallbladder and feces, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were dominant in the phylum, as they were present in about 61% and 21% of the feces, respectively. Conversely, in the gallbladder, Firmicutes was the most dominant (about 41%), and Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria were present in about 16% and 22% of the gallbladder, respectively. The Unweighted UniFrac Principal Coordinate Analysis results illustrated samples clustered into 2 categories: the gallbladder and feces. Our study might provide a foundation for knowledge on gallbladder microbiota for the first time and a basis for further studies on gallbladder and intestinal health.

Analysis of the Intestinal Flora in Male Versus Female Swamp Eels (Monopterus albus)

“…Some of the raw data obtained by sequence were useless data. To make the results of information analysis more accurate, the raw data were spliced and filtered to obtain effective data (Bokulich et al, 2013;Xing et al, 2019). Based on valid data, the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were clustered by USEARCH (version 7.0) 1 with 97% identity as the division standard (Han et al, 2019).…”

Uncovering the microbiome of invasive sympatric European brown hares and European rabbits in Australia

“…Recent advancements in sequencing technologies have highlighted the importance of interactions between the gut microbiome, host behaviour and physiology, and dietary preferences ( David et al, 2013 ; Henderson et al, 2015 ; Clemente et al, 2012 ; McKenna et al, 2008 ; Turnbaugh et al, 2007 ; Alcock, Maley & Aktipis, 2014 ). Although the gastrointestinal microbiome of both rabbits and hares have previously been investigated, most studies to date were conducted on domestic rabbit populations in either Europe or China ( Eshar & Weese, 2014 ; Zeng et al, 2015 ; Kylie, Weese & Turner, 2018 ; Velasco-Galilea et al, 2018 ; Reddivari et al, 2017 ; Xing et al, 2019b ; Dabbou et al, 2019 ; Xing et al, 2019a ; O’Donnell et al, 2017 ; Crowley et al, 2017 ; Stalder et al, 2019 ). Evaluating the microbial diversity in the gastrointestinal tract of wild hares and rabbits in Australia may provide additional insights as to how these two species differ, especially in terms of diet and/or metabolism ( Redford et al, 2012 ).…”

Peer Review #1 of "Uncovering the microbiome of invasive sympatric European brown hares and European rabbits in Australia (v0.1)"

“…To date, studies investigating the gastrointestinal microbial diversity of lagomorphs have been largely limited to domestic production rabbits in either Europe or China (14)(15)(16)(17)19. Currently, two studies have focussed on wild lagomorphs; the first investigating wild rabbits in Wales (23) and the second examining European brown hares in their native European home-range (24).…”