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Seasonal restructuring of the ground squirrel gut microbiota over the annual hibernation cycle

Open access
Carey, Hannah V., Walters, William A., Knight, Rob·2013·American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology

Abstract

Many hibernating mammals suspend food intake during winter, relying solely on stored lipids to fuel metabolism. Winter fasting in these species eliminates a major source of degradable substrates to support growth of gut microbes, which may affect microbial community structure and host-microbial interactions. We explored the effect of the annual hibernation cycle on gut microbiotas using deep sequencing of 16S rRNA genes from ground squirrel cecal contents. Squirrel microbiotas were dominated by members of the phyla Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Verrucomicrobia. UniFrac analysis showed that microbiotas clustered strongly by season, and maternal influences, diet history, host age, and host body temperature had minimal effects. Phylogenetic diversity and numbers of operational taxonomic units were lowest in late winter and highest in the spring after a 2-wk period of refeeding. Hibernation increased relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia, phyla that contain species capable of surviving on host-derived substrates such as mucins, and reduced relative abundance of Firmicutes, many of which prefer dietary polysaccharides. Hibernation reduced cecal short-chain fatty acid and ammonia concentrations, and increased and decreased concentrations of acetate and butyrate, respectively. These results indicate that the ground squirrel microbiota is restructured each year in a manner that reflects differences in microbial preferences for dietary vs. host-derived substrates, and thus the competitive abilities of different taxa to survive in the altered environment in the hibernator gut.

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Crossref · 10.1152/ajpregu.00387.2012

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Metadata

Authors
Carey, H. V., Walters, W. A., & Knight, R.
Venue
American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology
Published
2013-01-01
Volume
304
Issue
1
Pages
R33-R42
ISSN
  • 0363-6119 (ISSN-L)
  • 1522-1490
OpenAlex
W1991322537
Cited by
241
References
20
FWCI
3.25
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Seasonal restructuring of the ground squirrel gut microbiota over the annual hibernation cycle. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1152/ajpregu.00387.2012
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Carey, H. V., Walters, W. A., & Knight, R. (2013). Seasonal restructuring of the ground squirrel gut microbiota over the annual hibernation cycle. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00387.2012

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