rabbit gut metagenome Metagenome

European Rabbit gut microbiota amplicon metagenome from wild populations affected by RHD outbreakWild European rabbit gut microbiota 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing: Amplicon metagenome analysis to describe gut microbial communities from feces samples taken from the end of the intestine from 75 European rabbits before, during and after the RHD outbreak (November 2019 to October 2020) in Maamora forest (Northwest Morocco). A second independent population (n = 30) from Lleida province (Northeastern Spain) was also studied after an RHD outbreak in February 2021. No ethical approval was required, as no animals were killed specifically for this study. Samples were collected from wild rabbits legally hunted during the official hunting season in full compliance with Moroccan and Spanish regulations. No ethical approval by an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee was deemed necessary. From each individual (rabbit carcasses), we collected samples of liver, blood and fresh faecal pellets to determine the presence of antigen, antibodies and gut microbiota composition, respectively. More in detail, rabbit faeces were obtained per individual by gently massaging the ventral area of the animal to extract the faeces located at the end of the rectum, that were immediately preserved in lysis buffer (40 mM EDTA; 50 mM Tris pH 8.3; 0.75 M sucrose) and subsequently frozen at -20 Celsius degrees until DNA extraction. Raw sequences are from 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing (hiper-variable V4 region).