Uncovering the composition of microbial community structure and metagenomics among three gut locations in pigs with distinct fatness

Uncovering the phylogenetic composition of microbial community and the potential functional capacity of microbiome in different gut locations is of great importance to pig production. Here we performed a comparative analysis of gut microbiota and metagenomics among jejunum, ileum and cecum in pigs with distinct fatness. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed dramatic differences of microbial composition, diversity and species abundance between small intestine and cecum. Clostridium and SMB53 were enriched in the small intestine, while Prevotella, Treponema, Ruminococcus and Faecalibacterium showed a higher abundance in the cecum. Functional capacity analysis of gut microbiome revealed that the microbiome of small intestine plays important roles in the metabolism of small molecule nutrients, while the microbiome of cecum has the stronger ability to degrade xylan, pectin and cellulose. We identified tens of fatness associated-bacterial species including Escherichia spp. that showed a notable increase of relative abundance in all three gut locations of high fatness pigs. We further suggested that the potential pathogens, inflammation process, and microbial metabolism and nutrient sensing are involved in the high fatness of pigs. These results improve our knowledge about microbiota compositions in different gut locations, and give an insight into the effect of gut microbiota on porcine fatness.