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Diet drives convergent evolution of gut microbiomes in bamboo-eating species

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Abstract

Gut microbiota plays a critical role in host physiology and health. The coevolution between the host and its gut microbes facilitates animal adaptation to its specific ecological niche. Multiple factors such as host diet and phylogeny modulate the structure and function of gut microbiota. However, the relative contribution of each factor in shaping the structure of gut microbiota remains unclear. The giant (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and red (Ailurus styani) pandas belong to different families of order Carnivora. They have evolved as obligate bamboo-feeders and can be used as a model system for studying the gut microbiome convergent evolution. Here, we compare the structure and function of gut microbiota of the two pandas with their carnivorous relatives using 16S rRNA and metagenome sequencing. We found that both panda species share more similarities in their gut microbiota structure with each other than each species shares with its carnivorous relatives. This indicates that the specialized herbivorous diet rather than host phylogeny is the dominant driver of gut microbiome convergence within Arctoidea. Metagenomic analysis revealed that the symbiotic gut microbiota of both pandas possesses a high level of starch and sucrose metabolism and vitamin B12 biosynthesis. These findings suggest a diet-driven convergence of gut microbiomes and provide new insight into host-microbiota coevolution of these endangered species.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB31000000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31821001, 31471992, 31970386) and the project of Strategic Biological Resources Service Network of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ZSSD-003). We thank Yang Zhisong, Foping Nature Reserve, and Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve for their assistances with sample collection.

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  1. Contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Guangping Huang, Xiao Wang, Yibo Hu, Qi Wu, Yonggang Nie, Yun Ding, Li Yan & Fuwen Wei

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xiao Wang & Fuwen Wei

  3. Beijing Milu Ecological Research Center, Beijing, 100076, China

    Xiao Wang

  4. Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China

    Yibo Hu, Yonggang Nie & Fuwen Wei

  5. State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Qi Wu & Jiuhong Dong

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  1. Guangping Huang
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  2. Xiao Wang
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  3. Yibo Hu
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  8. Li Yan
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Correspondence to Fuwen Wei.

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Huang, G., Wang, X., Hu, Y. et al. Diet drives convergent evolution of gut microbiomes in bamboo-eating species. Sci. China Life Sci. 64, 88–95 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-020-1750-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-020-1750-7

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