人工繁育朱鹮肠道微生物宏基因组学分析

[Objective]This study focused on the captive crested ibis population in Xiazhu Lake,Deqing County,and used metagenomic sequencing technology to analyze the bacterial community structure and antibiotic resistance genes(ARGs)carrying status in the crested ibis gut during different seasons,providing relevant basic data for disease prevention and control of crested ibis.[Method]In this study,samples of crested ibis populations and their associated environment(mud and muddy water mixture from the outfall)were collected from July 2020 to July 2022 in Haizhu Lake National Wetland Park,Huzhou City.A total of 270 fresh ibis feces were collected.Total DNA was then extracted from the samples,and used for macro-genome sequencing,and bioinformatics and statistical analyses were performed on the sequencing data.[Result]After annotation by MetaPhlAn4,a total of 525 bacterial species belonging to 8 phyla,23 classes,53 orders,112 families,and 235 genera were identified from the crested ibis.Of these 61 species were defined as potential opportunistic pathogens in the crested ibis gut.The dominant phyla in the crested ibis gut were Proteobacteria and Firmicutes.The composition of the gut microbiota was highly between the samples and could be grouped into two clusters,with significant differences in microbial metabolism and function.Functional analysis of bacterial genes was performed using the eggNOG and KEGG databases.In terms of metabolic function,apart from a large number of gene clusters with unknown functions,bacterial gene clusters were mainly enriched in replication,recombination,and repair;amino acid transport and metabolism;transcription;and signal transduction mechanisms,as shown by the annotation results from the eggNOG database.Based on the annotation results from KEGG,the functional genes of the crested ibis gut microbiota were mainly distributed in metabolism,global and overview maps,carbohydrate metabolism pathways,and amino acid metabolism pathways.Both parts of this study support the important regulatory role of the gut in host physiological metabolism.A total of 367 ARGs are mainly associated with fluoroquinolone,peptide,aminoglycoside,and tetracycline resistance.[Conclusion]This study provides a preliminary overview of the gut microbial community structure and antibiotic resistance gene carriage in crested ibis,which is important for effective assessment of crested ibis health and control of antibiotic resistance.The findings broaden our understanding of anti-microbial resistance(AMR)in the endangered bird creasted ibis and provide a reference for assessing the risk of contamination by ARGs.