TY - JOUR

T1 - The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) rumen microbiome

AU - Roggenbuck, Michael

AU - Sauer, Cathrine

AU - Poulsen, Morten

AU - Bertelsen, Mads F.

AU - Sørensen, Søren Johannes

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Recent studies have shown that wild ruminants are sources of previously un-described microorganisms, knowledge of which can improve our understanding of the complex microbial interactions in the foregut. Here we investigated the microbial community of 7 wild-caught giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis), 3 of which were fed natural browse and 4 were fed Boskos pellets, leafy alfalfa hay and cut savanna browse, by characterizing the 16S rRNA gene diversity using 454 FLX high throughput sequencing. The microbial community composition varied according to diet, but differed little between the ruminal fluid and solid fraction. The giraffe rumen contained large levels of the phyla of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes independent of diet, while Prevotella, Succinclasticium and Methanobrevibacter accounted for the largest abundant taxonomic assigned genera. However, up to 21% of the generated sequences could not been assigned to any known bacterial phyla, and approximately 70% not to genus, revealing that the giraffe rumen hosts a variety of previously undescribed bacteria

AB - Recent studies have shown that wild ruminants are sources of previously un-described microorganisms, knowledge of which can improve our understanding of the complex microbial interactions in the foregut. Here we investigated the microbial community of 7 wild-caught giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis), 3 of which were fed natural browse and 4 were fed Boskos pellets, leafy alfalfa hay and cut savanna browse, by characterizing the 16S rRNA gene diversity using 454 FLX high throughput sequencing. The microbial community composition varied according to diet, but differed little between the ruminal fluid and solid fraction. The giraffe rumen contained large levels of the phyla of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes independent of diet, while Prevotella, Succinclasticium and Methanobrevibacter accounted for the largest abundant taxonomic assigned genera. However, up to 21% of the generated sequences could not been assigned to any known bacterial phyla, and approximately 70% not to genus, revealing that the giraffe rumen hosts a variety of previously undescribed bacteria

U2 - 10.1111/1574-6941.12402

DO - 10.1111/1574-6941.12402

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25087453

VL - 90

SP - 237

EP - 246

JO - F E M S Microbiology Ecology

JF - F E M S Microbiology Ecology

SN - 0168-6496

IS - 1

ER -