Supplementary Material for: The Gut Microbiome of Wild Lemurs: A Comparison of Sympatric Lemur catta and Propithecus verreauxi

Mammalian gut microbes are invaluable to the host's metabolism, but few researchers have examined gut microbial dynamics under natural conditions in wild mammals. This study aims to help fill this knowledge gap with a survey of the natural variation of the gut microbiome in 2 wild lemur species, Lemur catta and Propithecus verreauxi. The wild L. catta were also compared to a captive population to discern the effect of habitat within a species. Gut microbial DNA was extracted from fecal samples collected in Madagascar and the Vienna Zoo and sequenced. The wild and captive L. catta had distinct microbial communities, likely due to differences in diet and development between their populations. The wild L. catta and P. verreauxi also had distinct gut microbiomes, due to a change in microbial abundance, not composition. Within each lemur species, there was abundant variation between individuals and from the dry to the wet season. The intraspecific and temporal microbial variation requires more investigation, with changes in diet a likely contributor.

哺乳动物肠道微生物对宿主代谢具有至关重要的作用，但目前鲜有学者针对野生哺乳动物自然条件下的肠道微生物动态开展相关研究。本研究通过对两种野生狐猴——环尾狐猴（Lemur catta）与维氏冕狐猴（Propithecus verreauxi）的肠道微生物组自然变异进行调查，旨在填补这一研究空白。本研究还将野生环尾狐猴（L. catta）与圈养种群进行对比，以解析同一物种内栖息地差异带来的影响。研究人员从采集自马达加斯加与维也纳动物园的粪便样本中提取肠道微生物DNA并完成测序。结果显示，野生与圈养的环尾狐猴（L. catta）拥有显著不同的微生物群落结构，该差异大概率源于两个种群在饮食与发育历程上的区别。野生环尾狐猴（L. catta）与维氏冕狐猴（P. verreauxi）的肠道微生物组同样存在显著差异，此类差异源于微生物丰度的改变，而非群落组成的变化。在每种狐猴物种内部，不同个体间以及旱季与雨季之间均存在大量的微生物组变异。种内与时间维度上的微生物组变异仍需开展更深入的研究，而饮食变化可能是其中的关键影响因素。