The Development of Microbiota and Metabolome in Small Intestine of Sika Deer (Cervus nippon) from Birth to Weaning

Abstract

The dense and diverse community of microorganisms inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract of ruminant animals plays critical roles in the metabolism and absorption of nutrients, and gut associated immune function. Understanding microbial colonization in the small intestine of new born ruminants is a vital first step toward manipulating gut function through interventions during early life to produce long-term positive effects on host productivity and health. Yet the knowledge of microbiota colonization and its induced metabolites of small intestine during early life is still limited. In the present study, we examined the microbiota and metabolome in the jejunum and ileum of neonatal sika deer (Cervus nippon) from birth to weaning at days 1, 42, and 70. The microbial data showed that diversity and richness were increased with age, but a highly individual variation was observed at day 1. Principal coordinate analysis revealed significant differences in microbial community composition across three time points in the jejunum and ileum. The abundance of Halomonas spp., Lactobacillus spp., Escherichia–Shigella, and Bacteroides spp. tended to be decreased, while the proportion of Intestinibacter spp., Cellulosilyticum spp., Turicibacter spp., Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Romboutsia spp. was significantly increased with age. For metabolome, metabolites separated from each other across the three time points in both jejunum and ileum. Moreover, the amounts of methionine, threonine, and putrescine were increased, while the amounts of myristic acid and pentadecanoic acid were decreased with age, respectively. The present study demonstrated that microbiota colonization and the metabolome becomes more developed in the small intestine with age. This may shed new light on the microbiota-metabolome-immune interaction during development.

Rumen Microbiome and Metabolome of Tibetan Sheep (Ovis aries) Reflect Animal Age and Nutritional Requirement

“…Our data showed that the metabolomics profiles were significantly different between the young and sub-adult Tibetan sheep based on PCA or PLS-DA analysis, indicating that age is likely to influence the metabolic profiles of animals. These results were consistent with those in Li et al ( 25 ), who also found that age shaped the metabolome of ruminant animals ( 36 ). In addition to age, food is also an important impacting factor for the metabolomic difference.…”

Impact of high‐grain diet feeding on mucosa‐associated bacterial community and gene expression of tight junction proteins in the small intestine of goats

“…At the phylum level, the phyla Proteobacteria (59.33% in jejunal mucosa and 56.71% in ileal mucosa) and Firmicutes (38.83% in jejunal mucosa and 40.30% in ileal mucosa) dominated the bacterial community of jejunal and ileal mucosa. These two phyla are also highly abundant in the ileum of juvenile goats (Jiao et al, ) and jejunum and ileum of Sika Deer (Li et al, ). The common distribution of these microbiota from different ruminants indicates their general importance in specific function of small intestine in ruminants.…”

“…in jejunal mucosa and 40.30% in ileal mucosa) dominated the bacterial community of jejunal and ileal mucosa. These two phyla are also highly abundant in the ileum of juvenile goats (Jiao et al, 2016) and jejunum and ileum of Sika Deer (Li et al, 2018 (Ialenti et al, 2006).…”

Residual feed intake divergence during the preweaning period is associated with unique hindgut microbiome and metabolome profiles in neonatal Holstein heifer calves

“…The general hypothesis was that divergence in RFI during the preweaning period is associated with differences in hindgut microbiome and metabolome. The main objective of this study was to use deep sterile rectal swabs at birth and fecal samples through weaning along with individual measures of growth and development to evaluate the potential role of the hindgut in determining feed efficiency in young calves [14].…”