Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (11): 2812-2824.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2020.11.020

• PREVENTIVE VETERINARY MEDICINE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Transcriptome Analysis of Microbiome and Parasites in Feces of Giant Pandas

DENG Wenwen1, LI Caiwu1, JIN Lei2, LI Guo1, WU Honglin1, ZHANG Guiquan1, WEI Rongping1, CHEN Rui1, WANG Minglei1, HE Yongguo1, LI Ti1, LI Desheng1, ZHANG Hemin1, HUANG Yan1*, ZOU Likou2*   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of SFGA on Conservation Biology of Rare Animals in The Giant Panda National Park, Chengdu 611830, China;
    2. College of Resources, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
  • Received:2020-04-30 Online:2020-11-25 Published:2020-11-20

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the real microbial composition, antibiotic resistance genes and parasites in feces of giant pandas. Fresh feces of six health giant pandas were collected. The microbial composition and functions, the classes and relative abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and parasites composition in the feces of giant pandas were analyzed by transcriptome sequencing, while the correlations between predominant bacteria and ARGs were determined. The results showed that the giant pandas contained different types of microbiomes, including bacteria, fungi and virus, most of which were bacteria. The main bacterial phyla in giant pandas consisted of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, and the main fungal phyla consisted of Basidiomycota, Ascomycota and Mucoromycota. No significant difference of microbiomes in abundance between male and female giant pandas was observed (P>0.05). By analyzing the functions of differentially expressed Unigenes, it was found that microbiomes are mainly involved in the carbohydrates and amino acids metabolism. A total of 25 antibiotic classes and 304 ARGs were identified, and the class of efflux pump had the most related genes and highest relative abundance. Besides, a total of 126 parasites species, including nematodes, tapeworms, and trematodes from 63 genera have been found, while nematodes were the dominant species. Correlation analysis revealed that the genera Streptococcus, Escherichia, Enterococcus and Turicibacter significantly and positively correlated with the antibiotic classes of efflux pumps, quinolones, tetracyclines, glycopeptides, polypeptides and sulfonamides. This study revealed the composition of microbiomes, antibiotic resistance genes and parasite species in the feces of giant pandas through transcriptome level, which is of great significance for the prevention and controls microbial diseases and parasitic diseases in giant pandas.

Key words: giant panda, transcriptome, feces microbiome, antibiotic resistance gene, parasite

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