Effects of adding Sophora alopecuroides to high concentrate diet on rumen fermentation parameters and microbial diversity of sheep

The ongoing revolution in high-throughput sequencing continues to democratize the ability of small groups of investigators to map the microbial component of the biosphere. In particular, the coevolution of new sequencing platforms and new software tools allows data acquisition and analysis on an unprecedented scale. Here we report the next stage in this coevolutionary arms race, using the Illumina GAIIx platform to sequence a diverse array of 25 environmental samples and three known "mock communities" at a depth averaging 3.1 million reads per sample. We demonstrate excellent consistency in taxonomic recovery and recapture diversity patterns that were previously reported on the basis of metaanalysis of many studies from the literature (notably, the saline/nonsaline split in environmental samples and the split between host-associated and free-living communities). We also demonstrate that 2,000 Illumina single-end reads are sufficient to recapture the same relationships among samples that we observe with the full dataset. The results thus open up the possibility of conducting large-scale studies analyzing thousands of samples simultaneously to survey microbial communities at an unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution.

Anaerobic fungi (phylum Neocallimastigomycota) inhabit the gastrointestinal tract of mammalian herbivores, where they play an important role in the degradation of plant material. The Neocallimastigomycota represent the earliest diverging lineage of the zoosporic fungi; however, understanding of the relationships of the different taxa (both genera and species) within this phylum is in need of revision. Issues exist with the current approaches used for their identification and classification, and recent evidence suggests the presence of several novel taxa (potential candidate genera) that remain to be characterised. The life cycle and role of anaerobic fungi has been well characterised in the rumen, but not elsewhere in the ruminant alimentary tract. Greater understanding of the 'resistant' phase(s) of their life cycle is needed, as is study of their role and significance in other herbivores. Biotechnological application of anaerobic fungi, and their highly active cellulolytic and hemi-cellulolytic enzymes, has been a rapidly increasing area of research and development in the last decade. The move towards understanding of anaerobic fungi using -omics based (genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic) approaches is starting to yield valuable insights into the unique cellular processes, evolutionary history, metabolic capabilities and adaptations that exist within the Neocallimastigomycota.

To provide a comprehensive examination of the bacterial diversity in the rumen content of cows fed different diets, high-throughput 16S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing was used. Four rumen fistulated nonlactating Holstein cows received 12 kg of dry matter per day of four diets based on maize silage during four periods: the low-starch diet (22% starch, 3% fat); the high-starch diet, supplemented with wheat plus barley (35% starch, 3% fat); the low-starch plus oil diet, supplemented with 5% of sunflower oil (20% starch, 7.6% fat) and the high-starch plus oil diet (33% starch, 7.3% fat). Samples were taken after 12 days of adaptation, 5 h postfeeding. Whatever the diet, bacterial community of sieved rumen contents was dominated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Prevotellaceae, and Rikenellaceae families were highly present and were clearly affected by cow diet. The highest abundance of Prevotellaceae and the lowest abundance of Ruminococcaceae and Rikenellaceae were found with the high-starch plus oil diet. Dietary starch increased the relative abundance of only three genera: Barnesiella, Oribacterium and Olsenella, but decreased the relative abundances of several genera, with very significant effects for Rikenellaceae_RC9 and Butyrivibrio-Pseudobutyrivibrio. Oil alone had a limited effect, but interestingly, starch plus oil addition differently affected the bacterial populations compared to starch addition without oil. © 2012 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.