AUTHOR=Lyu Yang , Su Chunxia , Verbrugghe Adronie , Van de Wiele Tom , Martos Martinez-Caja Ana , Hesta Myriam TITLE=Past, Present, and Future of Gastrointestinal Microbiota Research in Cats JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=11 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01661 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.01661 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
The relationship between microbial community and host has profound effects on the health of animals. A balanced gastrointestinal (GI) microbial population provides nutritional and metabolic benefits to its host, regulates the immune system and various signaling molecules, protects the intestine from pathogen invasion, and promotes a healthy intestinal structure and an optimal intestinal function. With the fast development of next-generation sequencing, molecular techniques have become standard tools for microbiota research, having been used to demonstrate the complex intestinal ecosystem. Similarly to other mammals, the vast majority of GI microbiota in cats (over 99%) is composed of the predominant bacterial phyla