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Comparative analysis of the gut microbiota of the blue fox (Alopex lagopus) and raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)

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Abstract

The goal of this study is to compare the gut microbiota of domestic blue fox (Alopex lagopus) and raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) to provide better understanding of their intestinal gut microbiota. We analyzed the structure of fecal microbes in 40 blue foxes and 40 raccoon dogs that were raised under same conditions, using high-throughput Illumina sequencing targeting the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. In total, 295,146 sequence reads were obtained. The average number of operational taxonomical units in the two group samples was 194 to 286. Firmicutes (blue fox 73.40%, raccoon dog 46.90%) and Bacteroidetes (blue fox 21.92%, raccoon dog 44.25%) were the most abundant phyla in the gut of blue fox and raccoon dog. At the genus level, Prevotella (blue fox 16.89%, raccoon dog 36.22%), Blautia (blue fox 9.02%, raccoon dog 13.72%), and Peptostreptococcaeae_incertae_sedi (blue fox 22.41%, raccoon dog 2.84%) were commonly presented in the gut of two kinds of animal. Principal coordinates analysis showed that the microbial communities were different between blue fox and raccoon dog. The Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio was higher in blue foxes (3:1) than in raccoon dogs (1:1). Moreover, Peptostreptococcaeae_incertae_sedi and Prevotella, were more abundant in the gut of blue fox, whereas the abundance of Prevotella and Blautia were higher in the gut of raccoon dog. In conclusion, the present study revealed the difference of the gut microbial composition between blue fox and raccoon dog under the same diet conditions.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS-ASTIP-2017-ISAPS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Special Animal and Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 4899 Juye Street, Changchun, 130112, Jilin, China

    Hanlu Liu, Zhipeng Li, Huazhe Si, Wei Zhong, Zhongyuan Fan & Guangyu Li

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  1. Hanlu Liu
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  2. Zhipeng Li
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Correspondence to Guangyu Li.

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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt .

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Figure S1.

Rarefaction analysis of V3/V4 MiSeq sequencing reads of the 16S rRNA gene in different fecal ecosystems. Rarefaction curves at a cutoff level of 3 % were constructed at a 97 % sequence similarity cutoff value in mothur (PDF 18 kb)

Table S1.

Major phyla of the microbiota of blue fox and raccoon dog, and their percentage composition (DOC 32 kb)

Table S2.

Differences of the fecal microbiota of blue fox and raccoon dog at class level (DOC 35 kb)

Table S3

. Differences of the fecal microbiota of blue fox and raccoon dog at genus level (DOC 54 kb)

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Liu, H., Li, Z., Si, H. et al. Comparative analysis of the gut microbiota of the blue fox (Alopex lagopus) and raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides). Arch Microbiol 202, 135–142 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-019-01721-0

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