Probiotic interventions for understanding gut microbiome-mediated behaviour in wildlife

益生菌干预措施了解野生动物肠道微生物介导的行为

• 批准号: 2869059
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of East Anglia
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2869059
• 关键词: Probiotic; interventions; understanding; gut; microbiome

The gut microbiome influences how animals behave and interact with their environment through the microbiome-gut-brain-axis (MGBA). There is urgent need to understand how the MGBA operates in wild animals because cognition and behaviour facilitate rapid responses to global environmental change. Wild animals harbour more complex microbiomes compared to traditional laboratory rodent systems, therefore, integrative and intervention methods applied to wild populations are vital to advance knowledge in this field. This project will ask how natural microbiome variation affects behavioural phenotypes and overcome the challenge of manipulating the microbiome in non-model species.Great tits (Parus major) are an important, intensively studied wild avian model with highly variable gut microbiota associated with host behaviour. Despite the vast range of commercially available probiotics, including Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium spp. for growth promotion in poultry, tailor-made probiotics will be necessary for effective and ecologically valid experimental manipulations of the gut microbiome in wild birds.The following objectives will be prioritised and developed:1) Describe and compare the genetic function of gut microbes cultured and sequenced from wild bird faeces across habitat gradients.2) Test the efficacy of host-origin probiotics, i.e. microbial isolates derived from birds, that colonise when ingested and have health benefits.3) Determine the gut microbiome's role in mediating behaviour through intervention methods.

肠道微生物组通过微生物组-肠-脑轴（MGBA）影响动物的行为以及与环境的相互作用。迫切需要了解 MGBA 如何在野生动物中发挥作用，因为认知和行为有助于对全球环境变化做出快速反应。与传统的实验室啮齿动物系统相比，野生动物拥有更复杂的微生物组，因此，应用于野生种群的综合和干预方法对于推进该领域的知识至关重要。该项目将探讨自然微生物组变异如何影响行为表型，并克服在非模型物种中操纵微生物组的挑战。大山雀（Parus Major）是一种重要的、经过深入研究的野生鸟类模型，其肠道微生物群高度可变，与宿主行为相关。尽管市面上有各种各样的益生菌，包括乳酸菌和双歧杆菌。为了促进家禽的生长，定制的益生菌对于对野生鸟类的肠道微生物组进行有效且生态有效的实验操作是必要的。将优先考虑和制定以下目标：1）描述和比较培养和比较的肠道微生物的遗传功能从不同栖息地梯度的野生鸟类粪便中进行测序。2) 测试宿主源益生菌（即源自鸟类的微生物分离株）的功效，这些益生菌在摄入后会定殖并具有健康益处。3) 确定肠道微生物组通过干预方法在调节行为中的作用。