Comparison Of The Diet And Intestinal Flora Diversity Of Musk Mole In Different Season

Gut microbes are regarded as the “second genome” in animals,which play an important role in maintaining the health and normal physiological function of the host.Gut microbes can change with the changes of nutrition and energy intake in different seasons.Therefore,to explore the diversity of intestinal microbiota of wild animals in different seasons is great significance to study their ecological adaptability.The short-faced mole(Scaptochirus moschatus)is a small subterranean mammal of the family Talpidae in the Eulipotyphla,which is endemic to China.As a predator in the underground environment,its dietary characteristics and activity patterns have important effects on the ecosystem diversity.Therefore,a comprehensive analysis of the dietary characteristics of short-faced mole is important to evaluate its ecological role.In this study,DNA metabarcoding technology was used to analyze the dietary characteristics of short-faced moles.And 16 S r DNA amplified sequencing was used to investigate the differences of intestinal microbiota of short-faced moles in spring,summer and autumn.The results show that the food content of the short-faced moles is complex.They mainly feed on arthropods and annelids.Insects and Arachnida are common groups in the food composition of short-faced moles,and Diptera,Coleoptera,Lepidoptera are abundant.Plants are found in the food of short-faced moles,it is possible that short-faced moles ingest some plants to meet their needs.In terms of seasonal differences in intestinal microbiota,the results show that the relative abundance of Firmicutes is the highest in spring(SP),and the relative abundance of Proteobacteria is the highest in summer(SU)and autumn(AU).The results of diversity analysis show that there are significant seasonal differences in the diversity and function of intestinal microbial of short-faced moles.The diversity and function of intestinal microbial of short-faced moles are similar between summer and autumn,and more abundant in spring than that in summer and autumn.The biomarkers with statistically significant differences in different seasons are Bacteroidota,Firmicutes,Proteobacteria and Actinobacteriota.The gut microbiota of short-faced moles in summer and autumn show significant differences from that in spring in terms of carbohydrate metabolism and other functions.This study suggests that the difference of intestinal microbiome of short-faced moles among different seasons may be related to the seasonal changes of dietary characteristics and energy metabolism.And the changes of diet with the season may be the dominant factor driving the seasonal changes in the gut microbial community.In this study,DNA macrobarcoding technology was used to analyze the diet of short-faced moles comprehensively.The gut microbiota of short-faced moles in different seasons was analyzed by 16 S r DNA amplicon sequencing.These provide scientific basis for accurately assessing the ecological role of short-faced moles and propose scientific management strategies.In addition,from the perspective of seasonal variation of gut microbiota,this study also can provide scientific data for exploring the functional contribution of gut microbiota in the ecological adaptation of small burrowing mammals and fully revealing the ecological adaptation mechanism of wild mammals.