The microbiota in the intestinal and respiratory tracts of naked mole-rats revealed by high-throughput sequencing

Abstract

BackgroundThe naked mole-rat (NMR, Heterocephalus glaber) is being bred as a novel laboratory animal due to its unique biological characteristics, including longevity, cancer resistance, hypoxia tolerance, and pain insensitivity. It is expected that differences exist between the microbiota of wild NMRs and that of NMRs in an artificial environment. Overall, the effect of environment on changes in the NMR microbiota remains unknown. In an attempt to understand the microbiota composition of NMRs in captivity, variability in the microbiota of the intestinal and respiratory tracts of two groups of NMRs was assessed under two conditions.ResultsThe results obtained by high-throughput sequencing revealed significant differences at the phylum, class, order, family and genus levels in the microbiota between the two groups of NMRs examined (first group in conventional environment, second group in barrier environment). For the trachea, 24 phyla and 533 genera and 26 phyla and 733 genera were identified for the first and second groups of animals. Regarding the cecum, 23 phyla and 385 genera and 25 phyla and 110 genera were identified in the microbiota of first and second groups of animals. There were no obvious differences between females and males or young and adult animals.ConclusionsOur results suggest that the intestinal and respiratory tract NMR microbiota changed during captivity, which may be related to the transition to the breeding environment. Such changes in the microbiota of NMRs may have an effect on the original characteristics, which may be the direction of further research studies.

Gut Microbiome Alterations and Hepatic Metabolic Flexibility in the Gansu Zokor, Eospalax cansus: Adaptation to Hypoxic Niches

“…Whether in normoxia or hypoxia, the gut bacteria of the two predominant phyla of Gansu zokors were Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes; this is consistent with the studies on naked mole-rat, blind mole-rat, and plateau zokors under normoxia ( 29 , 33 , 49 ), indicating that Gansu zokor has the same dominant phylum with other wild subterranean rodents. Moreover, an increased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F-B) ratio under hypoxia conditions of SH44h and MH4w indicates that these two treatments have a higher impact on the gut microbiota; meanwhile, the SH44h and MH4w groups also showed higher F-B ratio than other hypoxia groups of having the equal concentration or time, which is also embodied in the ecological diversity metrics analyses (alpha diversity and beta diversity).…”

The metabolomic signature of extreme longevity: naked mole rats versus mice

“…The body content of vitamins from the B series including nicotinamide as well as of polyamines and bile acids are strongly influenced by the intestinal microbiota (because bacteria are able to synthesize them), supporting the intriguing, yet-to-be-confirmed hypothesis that (some of) the longevity-associated metabolic alterations found in naked mole-rats actually reflect a particular gut flora [48]. Thus, one species that is highly abundant in the gut from naked mole-rats, Bacillus megaterium [49,50], is also particular efficient in polyamine biosynthesis [51,52]. These results call for an extensive functional characterization of the naked mole-rat microbiota with respect to its possible longevity-conferring properties.…”

Composition of gut and oropharynx bacterial communities in Rattus norvegicus and Suncus murinus in China

“…A comparison of the gut bacterial communities between laboratory and wild S. murinus revealed a higher microbial diversity in the latter [ 9 ]. Other studies have revealed the bacterial communities of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts of laboratory rats [ 10 ]. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no literature addressing the composition of the oropharynx bacterial communities of S. murinus or R. norvegicus .…”