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Variation in Gut Microbiota of Captive Bengal Slow Lorises

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Abstract

Gastrointestinal microbiome plays an important role in animal metabolism, immune system and pathology associated with health and disease. Many wild slow lorises were confiscated from illegal trade into captivities and experienced a range of changes in living environment and diet. Microbiome analysis contributes to improving captive management by identifying the alteration in their gastrointestinal microbial communities and aiding in determining the factors affecting the health of captive slow lorises. The fecal samples of eighteen Bengal slow lorises (Nycticebus bengalensis) were used to compare gut microbiota from four rescue centers located in Dehong, Gejiu, Nanning and Puer cities of China. The results showed a significant site-dependent difference in microbial community diversity. Similar to other Lorisinae species, the Phyla including Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria dominated their gut microbiome composition. The Gejiu group exhibited a higher overall diversity and the unique OTUs, which is resulted from long-term isolated husbandry and heavy human disturbances. The scarcity of gums in the captive diet was likely to cause a lower abundance of Prevotella associated with soluble fiber degradation. The variation of intestinal microbiota in different environments highlights the necessity to improve feed preparation and husbandry management for the captive Bengal slow lorises.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/PRJNA579291, reference number PRJNA579291.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to husbandry managers of rescue centers in Dehong, Nanning, Gejiu, and Puer. This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.31501873).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, 211 Huimin Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, 611130, China

    Qingyong Ni, Xin He, Bo Zeng, Xiangyun Meng, Ying Li, Mingyao Yang, Diyan Li, Mingwang Zhang, Yan Li, Xiaolan Fan & Deying Yang

  2. College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, 211 Huimin Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, 611130, China

    Qingyong Ni, Xin He, Bo Zeng, Xiangyun Meng, Ying Li, Mingyao Yang, Diyan Li, Mingwang Zhang, Yan Li, Xiaolan Fan & Deying Yang

  3. College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, 46 Xinkang Road, Yaan, 625014, China

    Huailiang Xu, Yongfang Yao & Meng Xie

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  1. Qingyong Ni
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  2. Xin He
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Contributions

QN and MX conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, and approved the final draft. XH and XM performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, prepared figures and/or tables, and approved the final draft. BZ, YL analyzed the data, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, and approved the final draft. HX, MY, DL, YY, MZ, YL, XF, DY contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, approved the final draft.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qingyong Ni or Meng Xie.

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The authors declare that there are no conflict of interest.

Research Involving Human and Animal Rights

Sample collecting and experimental protocols were performed in accordance with the Institutional Review Board (IRB13627) and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Sichuan Agricultural University under permit number DKY-S20160702, as well as Administration for Wild Animal Protection in Yunnan and Guangxi Province, China, and adhered to the American Society of Primatologists principles for the ethical treatment of non-human primates.

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Ni, Q., He, X., Zeng, B. et al. Variation in Gut Microbiota of Captive Bengal Slow Lorises. Curr Microbiol 77, 2623–2632 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-020-02035-x

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