Genotype-associated heritable rumen bacteria can be a stable microbiota passed to the offspring

Abstract

Recent studies have reported that some rumen microbes are “heritable” (those have significant narrow sense heritability) and can significantly contribute to host phenotype variations. However, it is unknown if these heritable rumen bacteria can be passed to the next generation. In this study, the rumen bacteria from mother cows (sampled in 2016) and their offspring (sampled in 2019) were assessed to determine if vertical transmission occurred between the two generations. The analysis of relationship between host genotypes and heritable bacterial abundances showed that potential of five host genotypes can affect the relative abundances of two unclassified species level heritable bacteria (Pseudoscardovia, and p-251-o5). The G allele of BTB-01532239 and A allele of ARS-BFGL-NGS-8960 were associated with a higher relative abundance of p-251-o5. The A allele of BTB-00740910 and BovineHD1300021786, and G allele of BovineHD1900005868 were associated with a higher relative abundance of Pseudoscardovia. The mother-offspring comparison revealed that the heritable rumen bacteria had higher compositional similarity than nonheritable bacteria between two generations, and the predicted heritable microbial functions had higher stability than those from non-heritable bacteria. These findings suggest that a high stability exists in heritable rumen bacteria, which could be passed to the next generation in dairy cows.