Characterization of the gut flora of representative mouse strains of AMEM: implications for biological studies

Laboratory animals are used to study physiological phenomena, pathological mechanisms and disease prevention
.
The gut microbiota is considered a potential confounding factor
for inconsistent data from preclinical studies.
Although many gut microbiome studies have been conducted in recent decades, the gut microbiota characteristics of representative mouse strains have rarely been reported
.
Professor Qin Chuan's team from the Institute of Medical Laboratory Animals, Peking Union Medical College-Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, analyzed the feces of representative mice from 34 independent isolation packs in the animal barrier facility of Beijing Huafukang Biotechnology Co.
, Ltd.
to explore the intestinal flora characteristics
of representative mice.

In this study, 16S RNA sequencing
was performed on the feces of disease-associated group mice (DRA), immunodeficient group mice (IDA), gene-edited group mice (EGA), and normal group mice from 34 isolation packs of BALB/c and C57BL/6J strains.
Separate isolation packs ensure consistency in mouse diet, feeding facilities, and feeding environment
.
The results showed that the background strain, type, introduction source, introduction year and propagation type of mice could significantly affect the structure of the intestinal flora of mice, and the background strain had the greatest
impact on the intestinal flora.
In the normal group, there were significant differences in the type of gut microbiota of different mouse strains
.
64 core operating taxa (OUTs) were observed from the normal group of mice, of which 12 OTUs belonged to Lactobacillus
.
The intestinal flora of C57BL/6J mice was more stable
compared to BALB/c mice.

Fig.
1 Microbiota structure of normal mice

Figure 2 BALB/c (including BALB.
cJ, BALB.
c, and B.
C.
S.
) and flora robustness in C57BL/6J (C57 includes C57B.
J, C57BLS and C57BL6J).

Compared with normal mice, the Chao1 and Shannon indices of mice in the IDA, GED and DRA groups were significantly increased
.
In the IDA, GED, and DRA groups, there were significant changes
in the phylum Firmicutes and Bacteroides.
Compared with the normal group, the richness of Helicobacter pylori, Brautella, Enterobacteriaceae, Bacillus, Bacillus, Fusobacterium, and Clostridioides was significantly reduced in the IDA, GED, and DRA groups, while the richness of Saccharimonas, Rikenella, and Odoribacter was significantly increased
.

Fig.
3 Microbiota characteristics of animal models of different disease types

In summary, after excluding the interference of diet, feeding facilities, breeding environment, and commercial sources on the intestinal flora of mice, we focused on comparing the gut microbiota characteristics
of representative mouse strains.
The results showed that the background strain had the greatest effect on the intestinal flora of mice, and the most representative changes in microbial richness were in the normal, IDA, GED and DRA groups
, and the phylum Bacteroides and Firmicutes were the most representative.
Tips In future basic and clinical studies, it is necessary to evaluate the structure of mouse intestinal flora and consider the influence of intestinal flora of experimental animals on experimental results

Cite this paper

Guo J, Song C, Liu Y, Wu X, Dong W, Zhu H, Xiang Z, Qin C.
Characteristics of gut microbiota in representative mice strains: Implications for biological research.
Animal Model Exp Med.
2022 Dec; 5(4):337-349.
doi: 10.
1002/ame2.
12257.
Epub 2022 Jul 26.
PMID: 35892142.

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Introduction to the journal

AMEM is an international, open-access English-language journal, co-sponsored by the Chinese Society of Laboratory Animals and the Institute of Medical Laboratory Animals, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and published bimonthly in cooperation with the internationally renowned publishing group Wiley
.
The journal has been successively indexed by ESCI, MEDLINE, Scopus, PMC, DOAJ and other databases, and its influence has been internationally recognized
.

AMEM is committed to building an international exchange platform for scientific research such as laboratory animal species resources, experimental animal models, experimental medicine, comparative medicine and translational medicine, experimental animal technology, and laboratory animal welfare, and is a professional journal
that pays attention to interdisciplinarity, pays attention to the transformation of achievements, and leads the innovation and development of experimental animal science and experimental medicine.

Journal cover display (from left to right):

1.
Inaugural issue in 2018;

2.
The first issue in March 2020 was the first to publish the research results of the rhesus monkey new crown pneumonia model, which was selected as the "Top Ten Progress in Life Science in China" in 2020;

3.
In 2022, the cover will be completely revamped and changed from quarterly to bimonthly
.

Journal authors, readers and reviewers come from the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Brazil, France, Israel and other countries, showing a good international situation
.

Accurate journal brand
positioning.
Since its inception in 2018, it has published a total of 172 papers
.
The published paper not only has the professional characteristics of experimental animal models, but also has the characteristics
of significant interdisciplinary integration.
The citation frequency of 2018, 2019 and 2020 is 6.
543, of which the top 10 articles are cited below
.

In 2022, AMEM will continue to strive for the right to first publish excellent papers, and for high-quality manuscripts, APC
will be completely exempted.
A 50% discount is also applied to the following article types, including Short communication, Technical note, Practice and policy, Meeting report, and AFLAS Focus and Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics
。 In addition, in 2022, the journal will continue to promote the construction of academic frontiers and research hotspots, including but not limited to the following directions: (1) natural medicine mechanism of action research; (2) Human symbiotic microbial research; (3) cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases; (4) Central nervous system diseases; (5) Virus-host interaction studies; (6) stem cell direction; (7) Direction of brain science; (8) Ethics
of laboratory animal welfare.
Welcome to actively participate in the construction of journal columns!

AMEM Submission Website:

https://mc.
manuscriptcentral.
com/amem 

Contact Number:

010-67779337

AMEM will take the construction of first-class scientific and technological journals as the goal, take the academic quality of the journal as the first lifeline, continue to strengthen the international competitiveness and influence construction of the journal, and become a high-end academic exchange platform with world influence!

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