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Diversity and function of the avian gut microbiota

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Abstract

The intestinal microbiota have now been shown to largely affect host health through various functional roles in terms of nutrition, immunity, and other physiological systems. However, the majority of these studies have been carried out in mammalian hosts, which differ in their physiological traits from other taxa. For example, birds possess several unique life history traits, such as hatching from eggs, which may alter the interactions with and transmission of intestinal microbes compared to most mammals. This review covers the diversity of microbial taxa hosted by birds. It also discusses how avian microbial communities strongly influence nutrition, immune function, and processing of toxins in avian hosts, in manners similar to and different from mammalian systems. Finally, areas demanding further research are identified, along with descriptions of existing techniques that could be employed to answer these questions.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank M. Denise Dearing, Hannah Carey, and the two anonymous reviewers for comments that helped to improve this manuscript. This work was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 S. 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Kevin D. Kohl

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Communicated by H.V. Carey.

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Kohl, K.D. Diversity and function of the avian gut microbiota. J Comp Physiol B 182, 591–602 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-012-0645-z

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