Diversity and sex-specific differences in the intestinal microbiota of cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)

Abstract:

[Objective] This study aimed to investigate the diversity and sex-specific differences in the intestinal microbiota of cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). [Methods] Fecal samples were collected from 9 healthy adult cheetahs (4 male and 5 female), and intestinal microbiota were assessed through high-throughput sequencing of the V3-V4 region of 16S rRNA gene. [Results] In total, 599349 effective tags were obtained, with an average length of 405 bp. At 97% sequence similarity, 268 operational classification units (OTUs) were obtained and classified into the bacterial domain, including 10 phyla, 21 classes, 35 orders, 72 families, and 144 genera. Based on relative abundance, the 5 most abundant bacterial phyla were Firmicutes (accounting for approximately 42.29% of the total OTUs), Actinobacteria (31.54%), Fusobacteria (16.66%), Proteobacteria (5.30%), and Bacteroidetes (4.19%). The low abundance of phylum Bacteroidetes was the primary feature of the intestinal microbial community of the cheetah. The 5 most abundant families were Coriobacteriaceae (31.28%), Peptostreptococcaceae (17.66%), Fusobacteriaceae (15.46%), Lachnospiraceae (12.40%), and Clostridiaceae_1 (6.93%). The 5 most abundant genera were Collinsella (30.16%), Fusobacterium (15.46%), Peptoclostridium (11.46%), Blautia (8.28%), and Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 (6.39%). Approximately 2.32% of the total OTUs were unclassified strains at the genus level. Alpha diversity analysis indicated that the Shannon indices of the intestinal microbiota ranged 2.93-4.41; Simpson indices, 0.72-0.91. The observed species and Shannon indices of the intestinal microbiota of male cheetahs were slightly greater than those of female cheetah. Beta diversity analysis revealed that the difference between sexes was greater than that within groups. However, cluster analysis revealed that intestinal microbes of cheetahs of the same sex were not clustered. [Conclusion] The present results show the intestinal microbial diversity of cheetah, and indicate that intestinal microbiota of cheetah do not differ significantly on the basis of sex, thus providing a scientific basis for studies on the conservation of cheetahs and their digestive physiology and for rescuing and feeding cheetahs.