AUTHOR=Morgavi Diego P. , Rathahao-Paris Estelle , Popova Milka , Boccard Julien , Nielsen Kristian F. , Boudra Hamid TITLE=Rumen microbial communities influence metabolic phenotypes in lambs JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=6 YEAR=2015 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01060 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2015.01060 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
The rumen microbiota is an essential part of ruminants shaping their nutrition and health. Despite its importance, it is not fully understood how various groups of rumen microbes affect host-microbe relationships and functions. The aim of the study was to simultaneously explore the rumen microbiota and the metabolic phenotype of lambs for identifying host-microbe associations and potential biomarkers of digestive functions. Twin lambs, separated in two groups after birth were exposed to practices (isolation and gavage with rumen fluid with protozoa or protozoa-depleted) that differentially restricted the acquisition of microbes. Rumen microbiota, fermentation parameters, digestibility and growth were monitored for up to 31 weeks of age. Microbiota assembled in isolation from other ruminants lacked protozoa and had low bacterial and archaeal diversity whereas digestibility was not affected. Exposure to adult sheep microbiota increased bacterial and archaeal diversity independently of protozoa presence. For archaea, Methanomassiliicoccales displaced Methanosphaera. Notwithstanding, protozoa induced differences in functional traits such as digestibility and significantly shaped bacterial community structure, notably