摘要
Intestinal microorganisms are essential for maintaining homeostasis, health, and development, playing a critical role in nutrient digestion, growth, and exercise performance in pigeons. In young pigeons, the gut microbiota is primarily acquired through pigeon milk, meaning the microbial composition of parent pigeons directly influences microbial colonization in squabs. However, research on the correlation between the gut microbial diversity of parent pigeons and their offspring remains scarce. This study investigates the fecal microbiota and metabolites of 10 pairs of parent pigeons and 20 squabs raised under a 2 + 2 system. Fecal samples were collected at 15 days of age, and differences in the microbiota and metabolites between the two groups were analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing and LC-MS/MS. The results showed the following: (1) Squabs exhibited significantly lower α diversity, with a reduction in their Chao1 index and observed OTUs compared to the parent pigeons. (2) Firmicutes dominated the fecal microbiota in both groups, but parent pigeon feces showed a notably higher abundance of Proteobacteria. At the family level, 10 distinct families were identified, with 9 at the genus level and 4 at the species level. (3) A LEfSe analysis identified 16 significantly different bacterial species in the parent pigeons and 7 in the squabs. Functional gene abundance was highest in the metabolism, genetic information processing, and environmental information processing pathways. (4) An LC-MS/MS analysis in cationic mode identified 218 metabolites, with 139 upregulated and 79 downregulated in the squabs relative to the parents. These metabolites were primarily concentrated in five functional categories and enriched in 33 pathways, 2 of which showed significant differences. In conclusion, significant differences in both the α and β diversity of fecal microbiota were observed between squabs and parent pigeons, with similar bacterial species but marked differences in abundance. Metabolite analysis revealed greater richness in the parent pigeon feces. These findings suggest that future gut modulation using beneficial bacteria, such as probiotics, could potentially enhance host health based on microbial and metabolite compositions.
摘要译文
肠道微生物对于维持稳态，健康和发育至关重要，在鸽子的营养消化，生长和运动表现中起着至关重要的作用。在年轻的鸽子中，肠道微生物群主要是通过鸽子牛奶获得的，这意味着亲本鸽子的微生物组成直接影响小鼠中的微生物定植。然而，对父母鸽子肠道多样性及其后代的肠道微生物多样性之间的相关性的研究仍然很少。这项研究调查了在2 + 2系统下饲养的10对母子鸽子和20对群的粪便菌群和代谢产物。在15天龄的时候收集粪便样品，并使用16S rRNA测序和LC-MS/MS分析了两组微生物群和代谢产物的差异。结果显示了以下内容：（1）呼吸器的α多样性明显降低，其CHAO1指数降低并观察到与父鸽相比观察到的OTU。（2）富公司在两组中占主导地位的粪便菌群，但父鸽子的蛋白质细菌的丰度明显更高。在家庭一级，确定了10个不同的家庭，在该属水平上有9个家庭，物种层面有4个。（3）LeFSE分析确定了16个在父鸽中的细菌物种明显不同，而在混乱中鉴定了7种。功能基因丰度在代谢，遗传信息处理和环境信息处理途径中最高。（4）阳离子模式下的LC-MS/MS分析确定了218个代谢产物，相对于父母而言，有139个上调和79个下调。这些代谢产物主要集中在五个功能类别中，并富含33条途径，其中2种显示显着差异。总之，观察到粪便菌群的α和β多样性之间存在显着差异，在小群和母鸽之间，细菌种类相似，但丰度差异很大。代谢产物分析表明，父鸽子粪便中的丰富度更高。这些发现表明，使用有益细菌（例如益生菌）的未来肠道调节可能会基于微生物和代谢产物组成来增强宿主健康。
Xiaobin Li [1];Shengchen Zheng [2];Haiying Li [3];Jiajia Liu [4];Fan Yang [5];Xiaoyu Zhao [6];Yafei Liang [7];. 16S rRNA Sequencing and Metabolomics to Analyze Correlation Between Fecal Flora and Metabolites of Squabs and Parent Pigeons[J]. Animals, 2025,15(1): 74