What Benefit Is Gained By Intestinal Bacteria Living In A Mutualistic Relationship With An Animal

Gastrointestinal Microorganisms and Animals

Gastrointestinal microorganisms exist in symbiotic associations with animals. Microorganisms in the gut assistance in the digestion of feedstuffs, aid protect the animal from infections, and some microbes even synthesize and provide essential nutrients to their creature host. Therefore, agreement the complex symbiotic relationships betwixt gastrointestinal microbes and their creature hosts can lead to the development of practices to meliorate animal performance and promote animal wellness.

Digestive Strategies

Animals are oftentimes classified co-ordinate to their digestive physiology and gastrointestinal microorganisms can be examined according to gut location: foregut (before gastric stomach), midgut (small intestine) and hindgut (large intestine) (iv, v). Enzymes secreted in the mouth and tum assist in the breakdown of foods consumed by animals. Microorganisms residing in other areas of the gastrointestinal tract can also help breakdown feedstuffs past a process called fermentation. Fermentation is the anaerobic breakdown of organic compounds.

Pre-gastric, cecal and colonic fermenters are descriptive terms used to point the location in the digestive tract where the majority of microbial activity occurs. Pre-gastric fermenters (earlier the gastric stomach), include ruminants such every bit cows, sheep and giraffes. When the majority of fermentative activeness occurs in the cecum, animals can exist described as cecal fermenters (republic of guinea pigs, rabbits, chinchillas, rats, etc.). Colonic fermenters (gorillas, ponies, elephants, etc.) have the majority of fermentation occurring in the big intestine.

The Angert laboratory has investigated the microbial communities residing in the gastrointestinal tracts of surgeonfish, guinea pigs, cows and gorillas. Therefore, the post-obit word volition focus on those animals.

Surgeonfish

There are ~80 species of fish in the surgeonfish family unit (Acanthuridae). Almost surgeonfish are herbivores (eat algae primarily), and the herbivorous species tend to have long intestinal tracts when compared with carnivorous fish of the same body size (4, 5). The lengthy abdominal tract allows for a longer retentivity time of digesta and permits aplenty fermentation. Surgeonfish host Epulopiscium spp., members of the Low G+C gram-positive bacterial lineage. Scientists have observed surgeonfish behavior in the wild, and found that juvenile surgeonfish consume the feces of adult surgeonfish (i). This behavior may assist the fish develop their intestinal microbial communities.

Guinea Pigs

Guinea pigs have a big cecum, and like herbivorous surgeonfish, guinea pigs are coprophagous; they eat their own feces! In add-on to obtaining intestinal microbes, ingestion of feces allows animals to recover more nutrients and vitamins (2, four). Ane of the closest known relatives of Epulopiscium is a bacterium called Metabacterium polyspora. M. polyspora is also a Low G+C gram-positive bacterium and is a gastrointestinal symbiont of republic of guinea pigs. The Thousand. polyspora life cycle takes advantage of the coprophagous nature of the guinea pig host. This bacterium produces fallow endospores that can be found in the carrion of the guinea squealer. Coprophagy allows Metabacterium to reenter the host gastrointestinal tract or colonize new hosts.

A fistula (a surgical opening) can be implanted in the rumen, allowing for easy collection of ruminal contents and microbes.

Cellulose, a polymer of ß 1-four linked glucose units, is the world·s nigh abundant carbohydrate. Animals often swallow diets rich in cellulose. Mammals lack enzymes that breakup cellulose, but frequently harbor microorganisms in their gastrointestinal tracts that have the capacity to perform this of import function. As an example, fiber-degrading bacteria in the rumen can ferment cellulose. Microscopic images of three common cellulolytic ruminal bacteria are shown beneath: (A) Fibrobacter succinogenes, (B) Ruminococcus albus and (C) Ruminococcus flavefaciens.

Purpose of the Website

In addition to cellulose-degrading bacteria, our laboratory is interested in methanogens, a grouping of ruminal microorganisms belonging to the Domain Archaea. The methanogens are of great economic and ecology importance because they generate methane gas (CH4), an important greenhouse gas and contributor to global warming. When ruminants eructate (burp), CH4 formed in the rumen is released into the atmosphere. Hindgut methanogenesis also occurs. Methane produced in the hindgut of ruminants has an impact on global warming although the magnitude of this source has yet to be fully determined.

Gorillas

Gorillas accept a large colon (five) and are likely colonic fermenters. Gorillas are herbivores, and swallow a nutrition of leaves, bark, stems, shoots and fruit (iii). Recently, nosotros have isolated cistron sequences from the feces of a wild gorilla residing in Bwindi Bulletproof National Park, Uganda. The sequences were related to the post-obit bacterial phyla: Firmicutes (or Low G+C Gram-positive leaner), Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes, Lentisphaerae, Planctomycetes, Spirochetes and Verrucomicrobia (). Some of the sequences were very similar to sequences from bacteria that dethrone fiber, reduce effluvious compounds (tannins), and ferment simple and non-structural carbohydrates. These bacteria probably ferment feedstuffs in the gastrointestinal tract of the gorilla. They may likewise assist detoxify tannins, anti-nutritional compounds which bind valuable poly peptide and decrease palatability.

The symbiotic interaction between gastrointestinal microbes and their animal host enables animals to maximize the nutrients they obtain from the foods that they swallow. Of note, the Depression G+C gram-positive bacteria are important microorganisms in the digestive tract, and are commonly found in big proportions in surgeonfish, guinea pigs, ruminants, pigs, humans and gorillas. Because microbes perform vital functions throughout the gut, a characterization of both the types and functions of these microorganisms would allow scientists to develop effective management strategies. Practices could then be implemented to promote brute conservation, likewise as to increase creature health and performance.

References

1. Clements, Thou. D. 1997. Fermentation and gastrointestinal microorganisms in fishes, p. 156-198. In R. I. Mackie and B. A. White (ed.), Gastrointestinal Microbiology: Gastrointestinal Ecosystems and Fermentations, vol. one. Chapman and Hall, New York.
2. Holtenius, Grand., and C. Björnhag. 1985. The colonic separation machinery in the guinea-pig (Cavia porcellus) and the chinchilla (Chinchilla laniger). Comp. Biochem. Phys. A. 82:537-542.
3. Rothman, J. Yard., A. N. Pell, E. South. Dierenfeld, D. O. Molina, A. V. Shaw, and H. F. Hintz. Nutritional chemistry of the nutrition of gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Republic of uganda. Am. J. Primatol., In Press.
4. Stevens, C. East., and I. D. Hume. 1995. Comparative Physiology of the Vertebrate Digestive System, Cambridge, United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. Cambridge University Press.
5. Stevens, C. Eastward., and I. D. Hume. 1998. Contributions of microbes in vertebrate gastrointestinal tract to product and conservation of nutrients. Physiol. Rev. 78:393-427.
6. Frey, J. C., J. M. Rothman, A. N. Pell,  J. Bosco Nizeyi, M. R. Cranfield and E. R. Angert. 2006.  Fecal bacterial diversity in a wild gorilla.  Appl Environ Microbiol 71: 3788-3792.

Useful links

• Brute Science Department at Cornell
• Uganda Wild animals Authority

Useful Books: Rumen Microbiology

1. Hespell, R. B., D. E. Akin, and B. A. Dehority. 1997. Bacteria, fungi, and protozoa of the rumen, p. 59-141. In R. I. Mackie, B. A. White, and R. E. Isaacson (ed.), Gastrointestinal microbiology, vol. 2. Chapman and Hall, New York.
2. Hobson, P. North., and C. S. Stewart (ed.). 1997. The Rumen Microbial Ecosystem, p. 719, two ed. Chapman & Hall, Suffolk, United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland.
3. Hungate, R. Eastward. 1966. The Rumen and its Microbes. Bookish Printing, New York.

Source: https://micro.cornell.edu/research/epulopiscium/gastrointestinal-microorganisms-and-other-animal-hosts

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