Metabarcoding of fecal pellets in wild muskox populations reveals negative relationships between microbiome and diet alpha diversity

Microbiome diversity and diet composition concomitantly influence species health, fitness, immunity, and digestion. In environments where diet varies spatially and temporally, microbiome plasticity may promote rapid host adaptation to available resources. For northern ungulates in particular, metabarcoding of noninvasively collected fecal pellets presents unprecedented insights into their diverse ecological requirements and niches by clarifying the interrelationships of microbiomes, key to deriving nutrients, in context of altered forage availability in changing climates. Muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) are Arctic-adapted species that experience fluctuating qualities and quantities of vegetation. Geography and seasonality have been noted to influence microbiome composition and diversity in muskoxen, yet it is unclear how their microbiomes intersect with diet. Following observations from other species, we hypothesized increasing diet diversity would result in higher microbiome diversity in m..., DNA from fecal samples were extracted using the Qiagen Power Fecal DNA extraction kit. The Illumina 16S metagenomic library protocol was followed using ITS2, RBCL, and TRNL markers., Data includes raw fastq files for each sample. Each raw file includes reads from ITS2, RBCL and TRNL., # Muskox Diet Metabarcoding from Metabarcoding of fecal pellets in wild muskox populations reveals negative relationships between microbiome alpha diversity and diet. --- In this study, we amplify three common plant markers, TRNL, RBCL, and ITS from fecal samples to assess the diet of wild muskoxen across much of their Canadian range. Sampling from across different ecozones and seasons was performed to better understand the spectrum of wild muskoxen diets and how diet is influenced by geography and seasonality. We then compared the diversity and composition of the diet to that of the microbiome to determine how vegetation in different landscapes contribute to bacterial variation in muskox gut microbiomes, in context of their high fibre diet. These data provide insight into the plasticity of microbiomes relative to vegetation availability, which in turn also allow for predictions of the long-term impact climate change and concomitant vegetation changes have on muskox viability. ## Des...微生物组多样性与饮食组成共同影响宿主健康、体能、免疫功能与消化功能。在饮食随空间与时间动态变化的环境中，微生物组的可塑性可促进宿主快速适配可获取的资源。针对北方有蹄类动物而言，非侵入性采集的粪便颗粒的宏条形码技术（metabarcoding），可通过结合气候变化下可利用饲草资源的变化背景，阐明营养获取关键的微生物组间的相互关系，从而为解析其多样的生态需求与生态位提供前所未有的见解。 麝牛（Ovibos moschatus）是适应北极环境的物种，其可获取植被的质量与数量均存在波动。已有研究指出，地理因素与季节节律会影响麝牛的微生物组组成与多样性，但目前尚不明确其微生物组与饮食之间的相互关联。参照其他物种的研究结果，我们提出假说：饮食多样性的提升会导致麝牛微生物组多样性升高……。本研究采用凯杰（Qiagen）PowerFecal粪便DNA提取试剂盒提取粪便样本的DNA，遵循Illumina 16S宏基因组文库构建流程，使用ITS2、RBCL与TRNL标记基因开展实验。 数据集包含每个样本的原始FASTQ格式文件，每份原始文件均包含ITS2、RBCL与TRNL标记的测序读段。# 野生麝牛种群粪便宏条形码分析揭示麝牛微生物组α多样性与饮食间的负相关关系。 本研究通过对粪便样本中的三种常见植物标记基因TRNL、RBCL与ITS进行扩增，以评估加拿大境内绝大多数野生麝牛种群的饮食组成。研究跨越不同生态区与季节开展采样，以更全面解析野生麝牛的饮食谱，并明确地理因素与季节波动如何影响其饮食。随后，研究团队将饮食的多样性与组成同微生物组进行对比，旨在明确在高纤维饮食背景下，不同景观中的植被如何驱动麝牛肠道微生物组的细菌群落变异。本数据集可为解析微生物组随植被可获得性变化的可塑性提供参考，进而助力预测气候变化及伴随的植被变迁对麝牛生存能力的长期影响。