Comparison of mammalian gut microbiotas has shown that diet is, next to gut physiology, a major regulator of faecal microbiota composition [13]. In domestic cats, taxonomic and functional studies

of the intestinal microbial communities have shown that different sources of dietary fibre (i.e., cellulose, pectin, fructooligosaccharide) modified the composition of bacterial phyla in the faeces. For instance, cats fed a diet containing 4% pectin were found to display a higher percentage of Firmicutes and Spirochaetes than cats fed a diet containing 4% cellulose [14]. In the same study, dietary fructooligosaccharides increased the percentage of Actinobacteria. Conversely, high-protein diets induced a microbial shift towards decreased E. coli, Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus populations [15, 16]. In captive exotic felids, however, information on

BI2536 the composition and dietary modulation of the intestinal microbiota remains scarce [8]. Recent in vivo and in vitro studies in one of the most endangered exotic felid species, the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), point towards a significant role for microbial degradation of undigested animal tissues in the host’s metabolic homeostasis [17, 18]. However, because the number of captive animals available for well-documented faecal sample collection is extremely limited and because the composition and the functional capacity of the cheetah microbiota is virtually unknown, it has not been possible to link these observations to specific bacterial shifts or adaptations in the intestinal ecosystem. In addition, direct extrapolation selleck chemicals of microbiological insights obtained for the domestic cat is not a valid approach given its adaptation to commercial diets. To start bridging the knowledge gap between the design of nutritional intervention strategies and the prediction of potential health benefits, this study aimed to inventorize the predominant faecal microbiota of the only two captive cheetahs held in a zoo in GDC-973 Flanders (Belgium) associated with the

European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). Compositional analysis of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries was used for classification of the obtained very phylotypes at phylum and family level, leading to the identification of the major bacterial groups that compose the cheetah’s intestinal ecosystem. Methods Sample collection Fresh faecal samples (200 gram) were collected in 2011 from the two adult male cheetahs (B1 and B2; both 10 years old) housed at Zooparc Planckendael (Flanders, Belgium), a full member of EAZA (http://​www.​eaza.​net/​membership). The animals shared indoor and outdoor housing and were fed their regular zoo diet i.e. chunked boneless horsemeat (2 kg/day/animal) topdressed with a vitamin and mineral premix (Carnicon®; Aveve, Leuven, Belgium) randomly interspersed with unsupplemented whole rabbits.