Abstract: The alteration in diet is a pivotal factor contributing to modifications in the gut microbiota of small mammals. When transitioning from their natural habitat to captivity, wild animals undergo drastic changes in their lifestyle, however, the succession processes underlying the establishment of intestinal microbial community structure from artificial feeding remain incompletely elucidated. To clarify the effects of artificial feeding on the composition of gut microbiome of small mammals, natural populations of long-tailed hamster (Cricetulus longicaudatus) were captured using cage trapping from Lishi District (LS), Xi County (XX) and Zuoquan County (ZQ) in Shanxi Province in summer (from July to September) of 2022. Based on 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing, we analyzed the differences of intestinal flora in different ecological environments, and explored the succession process of artificial feeding on the gut microbial composition. The results showed that Firmicutes were significantly enriched in XX and ZQ populations while bacteroides were significantly enriched in LS population. Intestinimonas is a common dominant genus in the three populations. After 35 days of artificial feeding, Bacteroides were significantly enriched in the three populations and their relative abundance tended to be consistent. The relative abundance of Muribaculacea in ZQ population was 48. 85%, which was significantly higher than that in the wild environment. Our study shows that the diversity of the gut microbiota of C. longicaudatus is different in distinct ecological environments. After long-term artificial feeding, the similarity of gut microbiome of different C. longicaudatus populations increased significantly, indicating that diet change has a great impact on the diversity and community composition of gut microbiome, and the composition of gut microbiome of C. longicaudatus may play an important role in nutrition metabolism. The results provided a scientific basis for a better understanding of the ecological adaptability of the intestinal microbiome of C. longicaudatus, and the utilization of food as a means to regulate the population of detrimental.

Key words: Cricetulus longicaudatus, Gut microbiome, 16S rDNA, Community composition

摘要： 食物变化是引起小型哺乳动物肠道菌群改变的关键因素。野生动物由野外转至室内饲养会经历剧烈的生活方式变化，而目前对人工饲喂驱动其肠道微生物群落结构的演替过程还不完全了解。为明确人工饲喂对小型哺乳动物肠道菌群组成的影响，于 2022 年夏季 (7—9 月) 在山西省吕梁市离石区 (LS)、临汾市隰县 (XX)、晋中市左权县 (ZQ) 3 个地区应用笼捕法捕获长尾仓鼠 (Cricetulus longicaudatus) 活体，基于 16S rDNA 测序技术分析不同生态环境中其肠道菌群的差异，并探究相同人工饲喂条件下长尾仓鼠肠道菌群的演替过程。结果表明：长尾仓鼠肠道菌群在野外环境中，XX 和 ZQ 种群的厚壁菌门显著富集，LS 种群的拟杆菌门显著富集，肠单胞球菌属 (Intestinimonas) 为 3 个种群的共有优势属。相同人工饲喂 35 d 后，拟杆菌门在 3 个种群显著富集且相对丰度趋于一致，ZQ 种群 Muribaculacea 的相对丰度为 48. 85%，显著高于野外环境。本研究说明不同生态环境中长尾仓鼠肠道菌群具有差异性。经长期相同人工饲喂后，其肠道菌群的相似性显著增加，说明饮食变化对长尾仓鼠肠道菌群多样性及群落组成具有较大影响，而长尾仓鼠肠道菌群组成可能对宿主营养代谢具有重要作用。该结果为更好地了解长尾仓鼠肠道菌群对不同环境的生态适应性，并应用食物调控有害啮齿动物数量提供了科学依据。

关键词: 长尾仓鼠, 肠道菌群, 16S rDNA, 群落组成