Rumen microbial community composition varies with diet and host, but a core microbiome is found across a wide geographical range

Henderson, G; Cox, F; Ganesh, S; Jonker, A; Young, W; Global Rumen Census Collaborators, GRC; Janssen, P

Abstract

Ruminant livestock are important sources of human food and global greenhouse gas emissions.
Feed degradation and methane formation by ruminants rely on metabolic interactions between
rumen microbes and affect ruminant productivity. Rumen and camelid foregut microbial community
composition was determined in 742 samples from 32 animal species and 35 countries, to estimate
if this was influenced by diet, host species, or geography. Similar bacteria and archaea dominated
in nearly all samples, while protozoal communities were more variable. The dominant bacteria
are poorly characterised, but the methanogenic archaea are better known and highly conserved
across the world. This universality and limited diversity could make it possible to mitigate methane
emissions by developing strategies that target the few dominant methanogens. Differences in
microbial community compositions were predominantly attributable to diet, with the host being less
influential. There were few strong co-occurrence patterns between microbes, suggesting that major
metabolic interactions are non-selective rather than specific.

Citation

Henderson, G., Cox, F., Ganesh, S., Jonker, A., Young, W., Global Rumen Census Collaborators, G., & Janssen, P. (2015). Rumen microbial community composition varies with diet and host, but a core microbiome is found across a wide geographical range. Scientific reports, 5(14567), https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14567

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 1, 2015
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 9, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Print ISSN: 2045-2322
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 14567
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14567
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep14567
• Related Public URLs: http://www.nature.com/srep/
• Additional Information: Funders : New Zealand Government