Hitherto, virtually nothing is known about the microbial communities related to the bird species in the family Corvidae. To fill this gap, the present study was conducted to provide a baseline description of the gut microbiota of wild red-billed choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax). In this study, microbiota from four gastrointestinal locations (oropharynx, gizzard, small intestine, and large intestine) of three wild red-billed choughs were analyzed using the Illumina MiSeq sequencing platform by targeting the V4–V5 regions of the 16S rRNA genes. The gut microbiota of the red-billed choughs were dominated by the phylum Firmicutes (59.56%), followed by Proteobacteria (16.56%), Bacteroidetes (13.86%), and Actinobacteria (7.03%), which were commonly detected in avian gut ecosystems. Genus-level compositions were found to be largely dominated by Lactobacillus (18.21%), Weissella (12.37%), Erysipelatoclostridium (6.94%), Bacteroides (6.63%), Escherichia-Shigella (5.15%), Leuconostoc (4.60%), Proteus (3.33%), Carnobacterium (2.71%), Lactococcus (1.69%), and Enterococcus (1.63%). The overall intestinal microbiota was enriched with functions related to ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, DNA repair and recombination proteins, purine metabolism, ribosome, transcription factors, pyrimidine metabolism, peptidases, and two-component system. In terms of four different gastrointestinal locations, hierarchical clustering analysis and principal coordinate analysis showed that microbial communities of the oropharynx, gizzard, small intestine, and large intestine formed four separated clusters. A total of 825 OTUs and 382 genera were detected in all four gastrointestinal locations, which were considered as the major microbes in the intestines of red-billed choughs. Coexistence of lactic acid bacteria and potential pathogens in the gut environments of red-billed choughs required further investigations.

中文翻译：

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野生红嘴红嘴鸦（Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax）胃肠道菌群的组成，多样性和功能。

迄今为止，关于Corvidae科中与鸟类​​有关的微生物群落几乎一无所知。为了填补这一空白，本研究旨在提供野生红嘴红嘴鸦（Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax）肠道菌群的基线描述。在这项研究中，使用Illumina MiSeq测序平台，通过靶向16S rRNA基因的V4-V5区，分析了三个野生红嘴鸦的四个胃肠道位置（口咽，oph，小肠和大肠）中的微生物群。红色嘴choughs的肠道菌群是由门支配厚壁菌门（59.56％），其次是变形菌（16.56％），拟杆菌（13.86％），和放线菌（7.03％），通常在鸟类肠道生态系统中检测到。发现属级组合物中以通过在很大程度上支配乳杆菌（18.21％），魏斯氏菌属（12.37％），Erysipelatoclostridium（6.94％），拟杆菌属（6.63％），埃希氏菌属，志贺氏菌（5.15％），明串珠菌属（4.60％），变形杆菌（3.33％），肉芽杆菌（2.71％），乳球菌（1.69％）和肠球菌（1.63％）。整个肠道菌群富含与ATP结合盒（ABC）转运蛋白，DNA修复和重组蛋白，嘌呤代谢，核糖体，转录因子，嘧啶代谢，肽酶和两组分系统有关的功能。就四个不同的胃肠位置而言，层次聚类分析和主坐标分析显示，口咽，g，小肠和大肠的微生物群落形成四个分离的簇。在所有四个胃肠道位置共检测到825个OTU和382属，被认为是红嘴红嘴鸦肠道中的主要微生物。乳酸菌和潜在病原体在红嘴山鸦的肠道环境中的共存需要进一步研究。