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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbial Symbioses
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1556648
Gut Microbiota Alterations in Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys During Food Shortage and Parturition-Nursing Periods Authors
Provisionally accepted
Guanwei Lan 1
Yanshan Zhou 1 Zhantao Lu 1 Biqing Zhu 2 Juan Liu 2 Wei Wu 1 Yue Zhang 2 Jiabin Liu 1 Haijun Gu 3 Jie Lin 2
Rui Ma 1*
Wei Wei 4*
Dunwu Qi 1*- 1 Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu, China
- 2 Administrative Bureau of Baihe National Nature Reserve, Aba, China
- 3 Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Forestry and Grassland, chengdu, China
- 4 Key Laboratory of Southwest Wildlife Resources Protection, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, China West Normal University, Nanchong, Sichuan Province, China
Adopting unique survival strategies during spring food shortages and simultaneous parturition and nursing is crucial for golden snub-nosed monkeys. Social behaviors, such as altruism within one-male units (OMUs), are decisive for family health, but the role of microbiota in regulating these behaviors remains unknown. We conducted the gut microbiota from members of 10 OMUs using 16S RNA sequencing technology. We found that in adult males, gut microbiota diversity significantly decreased in food shortages and parturition-nursing period. Meanwhile, there was a notable reduction in 12 metabolism-related pathways, including those related to carbohydrates, amino acids, and lipid. The gut microbiota of adult male monkeys shifts from being enriched with the genera Akkermansia in winter to the genera norank Muribaculaceae in spring. This transition alters the pathways for nutrient acquisition, thereby reducing the consumption of stored energy. In contrast, other OMU members (adult females and subadults) did not experience adverse effects on the metabolic functions of their gut microbiota during the food-scarce spring, which is also a critical period for parturition and lactation in adult females.This study elucidates the co-evolution of altruistic behavior and gut microbiota in Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys, insights into the interaction mechanisms between mammalian microbiota and survival strategies.
Keywords: Golden snub-nosed monkeys, Altruism, 16S rRNA, kin selection, Evolutionary Biology
Received: 07 Jan 2025; Accepted: 14 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lan, Zhou, Lu, Zhu, Liu, Wu, Zhang, Liu, Gu, Lin, Ma, Wei and Qi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Rui Ma, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu, China
Wei Wei, Key Laboratory of Southwest Wildlife Resources Protection, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, China West Normal University, Nanchong, Sichuan Province, China
Dunwu Qi, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu, China
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