{"title":"Differences in Intestinal Microbiota Between White and Common Cranes in the Yellow River Delta During Winter.","authors":"Xiaodong Gao, Yunpeng Liu, Zhicheng Yao, Yuelong Chen, Lei Li, Shuai Shang","doi":"10.3390/biology14060704","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The avian intestinal microbiota is a vital interface for host/environment interactions, playing a pivotal role in nutrient metabolism, immune regulation, and ecological adaptation. In the Yellow River Delta region, common cranes and white cranes coexist in mixed flocks. During the winter, when food resources are scarce, studying their gut microbiota can effectively reveal the feeding patterns of these two crane species, thereby providing valuable data for crane conservation efforts. This study systematically investigated and compared the intestinal microbiota structures of white cranes (<i>Grus leucogeranus</i>) and common cranes (<i>Grus grus</i>) inhabiting the Yellow River Delta region. The results demonstrated that the predominant phyla of the intestinal microbiota in white and common cranes are Firmicutes and Proteobacteria at the phylum level; <i>Catellicoccus</i> and <i>Lactobacillus</i> were the predominant genera in the crane species. LEfse was used to analyze the differential flora of the intestinal bacterial communities of white cranes and common cranes and to detect the marker species with significant differences between the groups. Based on the COG database, a preliminary functional prediction of the intestinal microbiota was conducted, and 16 metabolic pathways relating to the COG pathway were obtained. In general, although both types of cranes belong to the <i>Grus</i> genus and are distributed in the same area, there are significant differences in the composition and functional characteristics of their intestinal microbiota due to the differences in their feeding composition.</p>","PeriodicalId":48624,"journal":{"name":"Biology-Basel","volume":"14 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12189369/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biology-Basel","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14060704","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The avian intestinal microbiota is a vital interface for host/environment interactions, playing a pivotal role in nutrient metabolism, immune regulation, and ecological adaptation. In the Yellow River Delta region, common cranes and white cranes coexist in mixed flocks. During the winter, when food resources are scarce, studying their gut microbiota can effectively reveal the feeding patterns of these two crane species, thereby providing valuable data for crane conservation efforts. This study systematically investigated and compared the intestinal microbiota structures of white cranes (Grus leucogeranus) and common cranes (Grus grus) inhabiting the Yellow River Delta region. The results demonstrated that the predominant phyla of the intestinal microbiota in white and common cranes are Firmicutes and Proteobacteria at the phylum level; Catellicoccus and Lactobacillus were the predominant genera in the crane species. LEfse was used to analyze the differential flora of the intestinal bacterial communities of white cranes and common cranes and to detect the marker species with significant differences between the groups. Based on the COG database, a preliminary functional prediction of the intestinal microbiota was conducted, and 16 metabolic pathways relating to the COG pathway were obtained. In general, although both types of cranes belong to the Grus genus and are distributed in the same area, there are significant differences in the composition and functional characteristics of their intestinal microbiota due to the differences in their feeding composition.
期刊介绍:
Biology (ISSN 2079-7737) is an international, peer-reviewed, quick-refereeing open access journal of Biological Science published by MDPI online. It publishes reviews, research papers and communications in all areas of biology and at the interface of related disciplines. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical results in as much detail as possible. There is no restriction on the length of the papers. The full experimental details must be provided so that the results can be reproduced. Electronic files regarding the full details of the experimental procedure, if unable to be published in a normal way, can be deposited as supplementary material.