In recent years, tremendous advances have been made in our ability to characterize complex microbial communities such as the gut microbiota, and numerous surveys of the human gut microbiota have identified countless associations between different compositional attributes of the gut microbiota and adverse health conditions. However, most of these findings in humans are purely correlative and animal models are required for prospective evaluation of such changes as causative factors in disease initiation or progression. As in most fields of biomedical research, microbiota-focused studies are predominantly performed in mouse or rat models. Depending on the field of research and experimental question or objective, non-rodent models may be preferable due to better translatability or an inability to use rodents for various reasons. The following review describes the utility and limitations of several non-rodent model species for research on the microbiota and its influence on host physiology and disease. In an effort to balance the breadth of potential model species with the amount of detail provided, four model species are discussed: zebrafish, dogs, pigs, and rabbits.

中文翻译：

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非啮齿动物模型物种在微生物群研究中的使用。

近年来，我们在表征复杂微生物群落（如肠道微生物群）的能力方面取得了巨大进步，并且人类肠道微生物群的大量调查已经确定了肠道微生物群的不同组成属性与不良健康状况之间的无数关联。但是，人类中的大多数发现都是纯粹相关的，并且需要动物模型来前瞻性评估诸如疾病发生或进展中的致病因素等变化。与大多数生物医学研究领域一样，针对微生物群的研究主要在小鼠或大鼠模型中进行。根据研究领域和实验问题或目的，非啮齿类动物模型可能更可取，因为它具有更好的可翻译性或由于各种原因而无法使用啮齿动物。以下综述描述了几种非啮齿动物模型物种在研究微生物群及其对宿主生理和疾病的影响方面的效用和局限性。为了平衡潜在模型物种的广度和提供的详细信息的数量，讨论了四种模型物种：斑马鱼，狗，猪和兔子。