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Volume 2, Issue 7

First insight into the faecal microbiota of the high Arctic muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) Open Access

Abstract

The faecal microbiota of muskoxen (n=3) pasturing on Ryøya (69° 33′ N 18° 43′ E), Norway, in late September was characterized using high-throughput sequencing of partial 16S rRNA gene regions. A total of 16 209 high-quality sequence reads from bacterial domains and 19 462 from archaea were generated. Preliminary taxonomic classifications of 806 bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) resulted in 53.7–59.3 % of the total sequences being without designations beyond the family level. Firmicutes (70.7–81.1 % of the total sequences) and Bacteroidetes (16.8–25.3 %) constituted the two major bacterial phyla, with uncharacterized members within the family Ruminococcaceae (28.9–40.9 %) as the major phylotype. Multiple-library comparisons between muskoxen and other ruminants indicated a higher similarity for muskoxen faeces and reindeer caecum (P>0.05) and some samples from cattle faeces. The archaeal sequences clustered into 37 OTUs, with dominating phylotypes affiliated to the methane-producing genus Methanobrevibacter (80–92 % of the total sequences). UniFrac analysis demonstrated heterogeneity between muskoxen archaeal libraries and those from reindeer and roe deer (P=1.0e-02, Bonferroni corrected), but not with foregut fermenters. The high proportion of cellulose-degrading Ruminococcus-affiliated bacteria agrees with the ingestion of a highly fibrous diet. Further experiments are required to elucidate the role played by these novel bacteria in the digestion of this fibrous Artic diet eaten by muskoxen.

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  • Accepted:
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Keyword(s): 16S rRNA , Archaea , Bacteria , methanogens , pyrosequencing and ruminant faeces
© 2016 The Authors
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2016-04-29
2024-04-24
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First insight into the faecal microbiota of the high Arctic muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus)
M Gen 2, e000066 (2016); https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000066
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