https://sputniknews.com/20220119/giant-panda-stays-plump-on-bamboo-diet-thanks-to-gut-bacteria-1092355516.html
Giant panda stays plump on bamboo diet thanks to gut bacteria
Giant panda stays plump on bamboo diet thanks to gut bacteria
Giant panda stays plump on bamboo diet thanks to gut bacteria
2022-01-19T02:21+0000
2022-01-19T02:21+0000
2022-01-19T02:21+0000
bacteria
panda
diet
Sciences
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Changes in the pandas’ gut microbiota during the season when nutritious bamboo shoots are available allow the giant herbivores to gain more weight and store fat, compensating for a lack of nutrients, for example, in seasons when only chew bamboo leaves revealed a new study published in the journal Cell Reports on Tuesday. A team of researchers from the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, led by Fuwen Wei, sought to determine whether changes in the microbiota affect metabolism. The scientists carried out a series of experiments on two groups of mice that were transplanted with panda faeces, collected during the bud-eating and leaf-eating season, and put them on a “bamboo-based” diet. The first group of mice gained weight very quickly and had more fat than the second, despite consuming the same amount of food.
2022
News
en_ES
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bacteria, panda, diet, science
alexandra kashirina
All the materialsWrite to the author
Changes in the gut microbiota, which occur as a result of changes in food availability, have long been observed in many animals, including some species of monkeys, which eat fresh leaves and fruit in summer, and bark in winter. A similar change has also been seen in some human tribes in Tanzania, whose diet changes throughout the year.
Changes in the pandas’ gut microbiota during the season when nutritious bamboo shoots are available allow the giant herbivores to gain more weight and store fat, compensating for a lack of nutrients, for example, in seasons when only chew bamboo leaves a new study published in
cell reports Newspaper on Tuesday revealed.
“This is the first time that we have established a causal relationship between a panda’s gut microbiota and its phenotype,” said one of the co-authors. “We know that these pandas have a different set of gut microbiota during the long sprout-eating season, and it’s very obvious that they are plumpest during this time of year.”
A team of researchers from the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, led by Fuwen Wei, sought to determine whether changes in the
microbiota affect metabolism. The scientists carried out a series of experiments on two groups of mice that were transplanted with panda faeces, collected during the bud-eating and leaf-eating season, and put them on a “bamboo-based” diet.
The first group of mice gained weight very quickly and had more fat than the second, despite consuming the same amount of food.
“Causal investigation of host phenotype and gut microbiota in wild animals is just beginning. Identifying which bacteria are beneficial to animals is very important, because one day we may be able to treat some diseases with probiotics,” the researchers say.
