The Metabolic Function of Giant Panda Gut Microbiota Decreased Compared
with Other Mammals
Abstract
Different responses of gut microbiota diversity affect host health in
term of nutrient metabolism and disease immunity, the reason and the
impact of low diversity level of giant panda needs to be studied.
Therefore, to explore the impact of intestinal type and diet on gut
microbiota diversity of giant pandas, we conducted a multi-species
comparison (n=73), and the effects of different diets on gut microbiota
function of giant panda were analyzed by PICRUSt method. The gut
microbiota of giant panda was significantly lower than the same diets
type herbivores and the same intestinal type carnivores. High-fiber
bamboo culm diet significantly reduced the gut microbiota diversity of
giant panda than bamboo shoot and leaf. The low diversity of gut
microbiota led to the low nutritional metabolic function of giant panda,
including energy metabolism and amino acid metabolism. These results
showed that the short intestinal tract and high fiber diet caused the
decrease of gut microbiota diversity of giant pandas.