Microbiome: Giant panda's metabolism of bamboo flavonoids and its adaptive response mechanism of intestinal microbes

Plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) play an important role in the foraging ecology of herbivorous mammals

Giant pandas belong to the order of carnivores, with the digestive and physiological characteristics of carnivores, but their diet is specialized as obligate eating bamboo

On September 22, 2021, the team of Academician Wei Fuwen of the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding published in Microbiome the title "Multi-omics reveals the positive leverage of plant secondary metabolites on the gut microbiota in a non-model mammal" research paper

(1) The use of flavonoids by giant pandas: i.

(2) The adaptive response mechanism of giant panda intestinal microbes: i.

The above results prove that in the long-term evolution process, the seasonal food transformation behavior of giant pandas is the adaptation of giant pandas to maximize the use of beneficial elements in bamboo

In summary, this study used non-model wild animals as models for the first time to explore the absorption and metabolism of food-borne flavonoids and their interaction with gut microbes

Doctoral student Wang Le from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huang Guangping, assistant researcher, and Researcher Hou Rong from Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding are the co-first authors, and Academician Wei Fuwen is the corresponding author

　　Article link: https://doi.

Figure 1 Changes in the types of flavonoids in the food, plasma and feces of giant pandas

Figure 2 The association network of fecal flavonoids (5 typical monomer compounds) and microbial species (MGS)

Figure 3 Graphical conclusion