ORCID Profile
0000-0001-5374-5872
Current Organisation
University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-02-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-019-39638-9
Abstract: Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract due to changes in the bacterial flora have been described with increasing incidence in the European brown hare. Despite extensive demographic and phylogeographic research, little is known about the composition of its gut microbiota and how it might vary based on potential environmental or host factors. We analysed the intestinal and faecal microbiota of 3 hare populations by Illumina MiSeq 16S rRNA gene licon sequencing. The phyla and OTU abundance composition differed significantly between intestinal and faecal s les (PERMANOVA: P = 0.002 and P = 0.031, respectively), but in both s le types Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes dominated the microbial community composition (45.51% and 19.30% relative abundance). Intestinal s les contained an enrichment of Proteobacteria compared with faecal s les (15.71-fold change, P 0.001). At OTU level, a significant enrichment with best BLAST hits to the Escherichia-Shigella group, Eubacterium limosum , Sphingomonas kyeonggiensis , Flintibacter butyricus and Blautia faecis were detected in intestinal s les ( P 0.05). In our statistical model, geographic location and possibly associated environmental factors had a greater impact on the microbiota composition than host factors. Population had a significant effect on the composition of abundant intestinal and faecal OTUs, and on the abundance of potential pathogenic bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae , regularly associated with intestinal dysbiosis in hares, in faecal s les. Our study is the first to describe the microbiota in brown hares and provides a foundation to generate hypothesis aiming to test the role of gut health in population fluctuations of the species.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-11-2021
DOI: 10.1111/JEB.13954
Abstract: Life‐history theory predicts a trade‐off between growth rates and lifespan, which is reflected by telomere length, a biomarker of somatic state. We investigated the correlation between telomere length and early‐life growth of wild boar piglets, Sus scrofa , kept under semi‐natural conditions with high food availability to examine our hypothesis that increased pre‐ and postnatal growth will lead to telomere length attrition, but that a high supply of nutrient may provide the possibility to compensate telomere loss via telomere repair mechanisms. As predicted, our data showed a clear negative correlation between birth body mass and initial telomere length: heavier neonates had shorter telomeres at birth, and we did not find an influence of the mother on initial telomere length. Body mass at birth correlated with body mass later in life and postnatal growth rate did not affect telomere length. We observed an increase in telomere length during postnatal development, suggesting that high food availability allowed piglets to invest into both, growth and telomere restoration. The increase in telomere length over the duration of the study was not accompanied by telomerase activity thus, telomere elongation was caused either by alternative mechanisms or by short pulses of telomerase activity that we missed. Taken together, this study suggests a trade‐off between investment into growth and telomere maintenance even before birth and the possibility to compensate telomere attrition during growth under high amounts of available energy.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-04-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-019-42756-Z
Abstract: Muscle nonshivering thermogenesis (NST) was recently suggested to play an important role in thermoregulation of species lacking brown adipose tissue (BAT). The mechanism, which is independent of muscle contractions, produces heat based on the activity of an ATPase pump in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SERCA1a) and is controlled by the protein sarcolipin. To evaluate whether muscle NST could indeed play an important role in thermoregulation in species lacking BAT, we investigated the thermogenic capacities of newborn wild boar piglets. During cold exposure over the first 5 days of life, total heat production was improved while shivering intensity decreased, indicating an increasing contribution of NST. S ling skeletal muscle tissue for analyses of SERCA activity as well as gene expression of SERCA1a and sarcolipin, we found an age-related increase in all three variables as well as in body temperature. Hence, the improved thermogenesis during the development of wild boars is not due to shivering but explained by the observed increase in SERCA activity. Our results suggest that muscle NST may be the primary mechanism of heat production during cold stress in large mammals lacking BAT, strengthening the hypothesis that muscle NST has likely played an important role in the evolution of endothermy.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date: 2017
No related grants have been discovered for Sebastian G. Vetter.