Gut eukaryotic communities in pigs: diversity, composition and host genetics contribution
Abstract Background The pig gut microbiome harbors thousands of species of archaea, bacteria, viruses and eukaryotes such as protists and fungi. However, since the majority of published studies have been focused on prokaryotes, little is known about the diversity, host-genetic control, and contribut...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2020-05-01
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| Series: | Animal Microbiome |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42523-020-00038-4 |
| _version_ | 1828782781919920128 |
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| author | Yuliaxis Ramayo-Caldas Francesc Prenafeta-Boldú Laura M. Zingaretti Olga Gonzalez-Rodriguez Antoni Dalmau Raquel Quintanilla Maria Ballester |
| author_facet | Yuliaxis Ramayo-Caldas Francesc Prenafeta-Boldú Laura M. Zingaretti Olga Gonzalez-Rodriguez Antoni Dalmau Raquel Quintanilla Maria Ballester |
| author_sort | Yuliaxis Ramayo-Caldas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The pig gut microbiome harbors thousands of species of archaea, bacteria, viruses and eukaryotes such as protists and fungi. However, since the majority of published studies have been focused on prokaryotes, little is known about the diversity, host-genetic control, and contributions to host performance of the gut eukaryotic counterparts. Here we report the first study that aims at characterizing the diversity and composition of gut commensal eukaryotes in pigs, exploring their putative control by host genetics, and analyzing their association with piglets body weight. Results Fungi and protists from the faeces of 514 healthy Duroc pigs of two sexes and two different ages were characterized by 18S and ITS ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. The pig gut mycobiota was dominated by yeasts, with a high prevalence and abundance of Kazachstania spp. Regarding protists, representatives of four genera (Blastocystis, Neobalantidium, Tetratrichomonas and Trichomitus) were predominant in more than the 80% of the pigs. Heritabilities for the diversity and abundance of gut eukaryotic communities were estimated with the subset of 60d aged piglets (N = 390). The heritabilities of α-diversity and of the abundance of fungal and protists genera were low, ranging from 0.15 to 0.28. A genome wide association study reported genetic variants related to the fungal α-diversity and to the abundance of Blastocystis spp. Annotated candidate genes were mainly associated with immunity, gut homeostasis and metabolic processes. Additionally, we explored the association of gut commensal eukaryotes with piglet body weight. Our results pointed to a positive contribution of fungi from the Kazachstania genus, while protists displayed both positive (Blastocystis and Entamoeba) and negative (Trichomitus) associations with piglet body weight. Conclusions Our results point towards a minor and taxa specific genetic control over the diversity and composition of the pig gut eukaryotic communities. Moreover, we provide evidences of the associations between piglets’ body weight after weaning and members from the gut fungal and protist eukaryote community. Overall, this study highlights the relevance of considering, along with that of bacteria, the contribution of the gut eukaryote communities to better understand host-microbiome association and their role on pig performance, welfare and health. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T17:54:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d6a7b498506b41389ebd9c8921babacb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2524-4671 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T17:54:53Z |
| publishDate | 2020-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animal Microbiome |
| spelling | doaj.art-d6a7b498506b41389ebd9c8921babacb2022-12-22T00:56:06ZengBMCAnimal Microbiome2524-46712020-05-012111210.1186/s42523-020-00038-4Gut eukaryotic communities in pigs: diversity, composition and host genetics contributionYuliaxis Ramayo-Caldas0Francesc Prenafeta-Boldú1Laura M. Zingaretti2Olga Gonzalez-Rodriguez3Antoni Dalmau4Raquel Quintanilla5Maria Ballester6Animal Breeding and Genetics Program, Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA)GIRO, IRTACentre for Research in Agricultural Genomics, CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB ConsortiumAnimal Breeding and Genetics Program, Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA)Animal Welfare Subprogram, IRTAAnimal Breeding and Genetics Program, Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA)Animal Breeding and Genetics Program, Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA)Abstract Background The pig gut microbiome harbors thousands of species of archaea, bacteria, viruses and eukaryotes such as protists and fungi. However, since the majority of published studies have been focused on prokaryotes, little is known about the diversity, host-genetic control, and contributions to host performance of the gut eukaryotic counterparts. Here we report the first study that aims at characterizing the diversity and composition of gut commensal eukaryotes in pigs, exploring their putative control by host genetics, and analyzing their association with piglets body weight. Results Fungi and protists from the faeces of 514 healthy Duroc pigs of two sexes and two different ages were characterized by 18S and ITS ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. The pig gut mycobiota was dominated by yeasts, with a high prevalence and abundance of Kazachstania spp. Regarding protists, representatives of four genera (Blastocystis, Neobalantidium, Tetratrichomonas and Trichomitus) were predominant in more than the 80% of the pigs. Heritabilities for the diversity and abundance of gut eukaryotic communities were estimated with the subset of 60d aged piglets (N = 390). The heritabilities of α-diversity and of the abundance of fungal and protists genera were low, ranging from 0.15 to 0.28. A genome wide association study reported genetic variants related to the fungal α-diversity and to the abundance of Blastocystis spp. Annotated candidate genes were mainly associated with immunity, gut homeostasis and metabolic processes. Additionally, we explored the association of gut commensal eukaryotes with piglet body weight. Our results pointed to a positive contribution of fungi from the Kazachstania genus, while protists displayed both positive (Blastocystis and Entamoeba) and negative (Trichomitus) associations with piglet body weight. Conclusions Our results point towards a minor and taxa specific genetic control over the diversity and composition of the pig gut eukaryotic communities. Moreover, we provide evidences of the associations between piglets’ body weight after weaning and members from the gut fungal and protist eukaryote community. Overall, this study highlights the relevance of considering, along with that of bacteria, the contribution of the gut eukaryote communities to better understand host-microbiome association and their role on pig performance, welfare and health.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42523-020-00038-4Gut eukaryotesFungiProtistsPigHost genetics |
| spellingShingle | Yuliaxis Ramayo-Caldas Francesc Prenafeta-Boldú Laura M. Zingaretti Olga Gonzalez-Rodriguez Antoni Dalmau Raquel Quintanilla Maria Ballester Gut eukaryotic communities in pigs: diversity, composition and host genetics contribution Animal Microbiome Gut eukaryotes Fungi Protists Pig Host genetics |
| title | Gut eukaryotic communities in pigs: diversity, composition and host genetics contribution |
| title_full | Gut eukaryotic communities in pigs: diversity, composition and host genetics contribution |
| title_fullStr | Gut eukaryotic communities in pigs: diversity, composition and host genetics contribution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gut eukaryotic communities in pigs: diversity, composition and host genetics contribution |
| title_short | Gut eukaryotic communities in pigs: diversity, composition and host genetics contribution |
| title_sort | gut eukaryotic communities in pigs diversity composition and host genetics contribution |
| topic | Gut eukaryotes Fungi Protists Pig Host genetics |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42523-020-00038-4 |
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