Interaction Between Personality And Gut Microbiota In Chipmunk

In recent years,the behavioral differences between individual animals have become the focus of research.Individual animals always have behavioral differences under different environmental pressures,and this difference is defined as animal Personality.There are many internal and external factors that affect animal behavior.Physiological state based on neural and endocrine activities has a decisive influence on animal behavior.The Gut-brain axis enables the interaction between the brain and behavior.gut microbiota plays an important role in the gut-brain axis,influencing the physiological state of animals.We suspect that personality and gut microbiota interact.Chipmunks（Tamias sibiricus）play an important ecological function in seed storage and seed dispersal,with a large number and high encounter rate,so we choose chipmunks as the research object,and we will carry out research in Liangshui National Nature Reserve from2020 to 2022.It is assumed that there are personality differences in chipmunks.Firstly,behavioral and physiological data of chipmunks are collected through three personality experiments,namely,behavioral experiment box,struggle experiment and release experiment.It is found that there are personality differences in chipmunks.And there are exploratory-courageous and exploratory-stress-resistant behavioral characteristic groups.The activity of females was higher than that of males（df=112,t=-2.636,F=2.008,P=0.010）,especially in young and old groups(ANOVA,F_7,106=2.259,P=0.017).The braver chipmunks had a larger range of activity（r=0.271,P=0.017）.Secondly,we hypothesized that there were significant differences in the gut microbiota of chipmunks with different personalities.The 16S r RNA high-throughput sequencing technology was used to compare the gut microbiota structure differences of different personalities in Chipmunks.It was found that there were significant differences in gut microbiota structure among different coping styles.The comprehensive score was calculated by principal component analysis,and the chipmunks were divided into three groups,group P with positive coping style,group M with intermediate coping style and group N with negative coping style.At the level of phylum classification,Firmicutes,Bacteroidetes,Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were the main dominant phylum,and the relative abundance of Proteobacteria in group P was significantly higher than that in group N(Anova,F_2,31=2.386,P=0.000).In the genus classification level,Lactobacillus is the dominant bacterium in group P and group M,which is significantly higher in group P than in group N(Anova,F_2,31=1.487,P=0.000),and the dominant bacterium in group N is Prevotella.The Analysis of Principal Coordinate Analysis（PCo A）and Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling（NMDS）among the three groups revealed their differences in structure.And the negative coping style group had the highest similarity of microflora structure.Through PICRUSt2 gut microbiota prediction function,it was found that there were significant differences between group P and group N in heterogeneous biodegradation pathways in metabolism,cofactor and vitamin metabolism,nucleotide metabolism,lipid metabolism,carbohydrate metabolism and amino acid metabolism,and group P was higher than group N.Feces contains hormones,which are important products of neuroendocrine in the gut-brain axis.Cortisol also affects gut microbiota in neuroendocrine activities,representing a certain level of stress response.However,the behavior laboratory experiment to some extent produced a stress response to chipmunks,so we hypothesized that chipmunks with different personalities would have different levels of hormone mobilization and adapt to the environment at different speeds when facing environmental pressure.Cortisol levels in the feces of the mice were measured by enzyme-linked immune response（ELISA）and the changes in cortisol levels after behavioral stimulation.We found that during daily activities,the cortisol hormone decreased with increasing age,and the P group was significantly higher than the N group(ANOVA,F_8,8=2.919,P=0.030).After the stimulation of the behavioral experiment,the cortisol hormone in the chipmunk feces rose to its peak within 8 to 12 hours.The concentration of cortisol in group P reached its peak before that in group N.There was a significant negative correlation between fecal cortisol changes and activity,and the higher the activity,the smaller the change of cortisol hormone（r=-0.381,P=0.026）.Finally,suppose that changes in the structure of the chipmunks’gut microbiota lead to changes in personality.In 2022,we changed the gut microbiota structure of chipmunks by feeding high-fat and high-starch diets respectively at the National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Maoershan Forest Ecosystem in Heilongjiang Province.The results showed that the flora richness and diversity of the high fat diet group were lower than those of the high starch diet group.The flora structure of the high fat group was the highest similarity within the group,and the flora of the high starch group and the high fat group was obviously separated.There were differences in personality after feeding.The coping styles of the high-fat feeding rats remained unchanged or showed a downward trend.The coping styles of chipmunks reared with high starch showed an upward trend.Chipmunks with the same coping style had similar gut microbiota structure.Through the above research results,it can be concluded that there are personality differences among chipmunks;The gut microbiota structure of chipmunks with different coping styles was significantly different.The concentration of cortisol hormone in the feces of the positive coping style group was higher than that of the negative coping style group,and the positive group reached the peak before the negative group.Changing the gut microbiota changes the personality of chipmunks.