Potential Mechanism of Detoxification of Cyanide Compounds by Gut Microbiomes of Bamboo-Eating Pandas

mSphere

Ran Yao¹  Lifeng Zhu¹  Liangliang Xu¹  Tonggui Wu²  Zhisong Yang³  Hua Chen⁴  Xuyu Yang⁵  Xiaodong Gu⁵ 

[1] College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China;East China Coastal Forest Ecosystem Long-Term Research Station, Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang, Zhejiang, China;Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation (Ministry of Education), China West Normal University, Nanchong, China;Shanghai Biozeron Bioinformatics Center, Shanghai, China;Sichuan Station for Wildlife Survey and Management, Chengdu, China;

关键词: bamboo;    comparative genomics;    cyanide compound detoxification;    gut microbial metagenomes;    pandas;   

DOI  :  10.1128/mSphere.00229-18

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT Gut microbes can enhance the ability of hosts to consume secondary plant compounds and, therefore, expand the dietary niche breadth of mammalian herbivores. The giant and red pandas are bamboo-eating specialists within the mammalian order Carnivora. Bamboo contains abundant plant secondary metabolites (e.g., cyanide-containing compounds). However, Carnivora species, including the giant panda, have deficient levels of rhodanese (one of the essential cyanide detoxification enzymes) in their tissues compared with the same tissues of herbivores. Here, we make a comparative analysis of 94 gut metagenomes, including 25 from bamboo-eating pandas (19 from giant pandas and 6 from red pandas), 30 from Père David’s deer, and 39 from published data for other mammals. The bamboo-eating pandas’ gut microbiomes had some common features, such as high proportions of Pseudomonas bacteria. The results revealed that bamboo-eating pandas’ gut microbiomes were significantly enriched in putative genes coding for enzymes related to cyanide degradation (e.g., rhodanese) compared with the gut microbiomes of typical herbivorous mammals, which might have coevolved with their special bamboo diets. The enrichment of putative cyanide-digesting gut microbes, in combination with adaptations related to morphology (e.g., pseudothumbs) and genomic signatures, show that the giant panda and red panda have evolved some common traits to adapt to their bamboo diet. IMPORTANCE The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and red panda (Ailurus fulgens), two obligate bamboo feeders, have distinct phylogenetic positions in the order Carnivora. Bamboo is extraordinarily rich in plant secondary metabolites, such as allied phenolic and polyphenolic compounds and even toxic cyanide compounds. Here, the enrichment of putative cyanide-digesting gut microbes, in combination with adaptations related to morphology (e.g., pseudothumbs) and genomic signatures, show that the giant panda and red panda have evolved some common traits to adapt to their bamboo diet. Thus, here is another story of diet-driven gut microbiota in nature.

【 授权许可】

Unknown