TY - JOUR T1 - The development of gut microbiota in ostriches and its association with growth JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/270017 SP - 270017 AU - Elin Videvall AU - Se Jin Song AU - Hanna M. Bensch AU - Maria Strandh AU - Anel Engelbrecht AU - Naomi Serfontein AU - Olof Hellgren AU - Adriaan Olivier AU - Schalk Cloete AU - Rob Knight AU - Charlie K. Cornwallis Y1 - 2018/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/02/22/270017.abstract N2 - The development of gut microbiota during ontogeny in vertebrates is emerging as an important process influencing physiology, immune system, health, and adult fitness. However, we have little knowledge of how the gut microbiome is colonised and develops in non-model organisms, and to what extent microbial diversity and specific taxa influence changes in fitness-related traits. Here, we used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to describe the successional development of the faecal microbiota in juvenile ostriches (Struthio camelus; n = 71) over their first three months of life, during which time a five-fold difference in weight was observed. We found a gradual increase in microbial diversity with age, an overall convergence in community composition among individuals, multiple colonisation and extinction events, and major taxonomic shifts coinciding with the cessation of yolk absorption. In addition, we discovered significant but complex associations between juvenile growth and microbial diversity, and identified distinct bacterial groups that had positive (Bacteroidaceae) and negative (Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcaceae, Lactobacillaceae) correlations with the growth of individuals at specific ages. These results have broad implications for our understanding of the development of gut microbiota and its association with juvenile growth. ER -