Dietary Methionine-Induced Changes in the Gut Microbiota Are Associated with Immunity and Reproductive Physiological Profiles in Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae)
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Rapid population increases in degraded habitats have been reported for the plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae)—a small burrowing lagomorph endemic to the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau—challenging the ecological balance of alpine meadow ecosystems. Although previous studies have indicated that high-protein and sulfur-containing amino acid (particularly methionine) intake in degraded habitats may drive this expansion, whether methionine modulates the physiology of plateau pikas through the gut microbiota remains unclear. This study investigates the effects of dietary methionine on the gut microbiota, immunity, and reproductive physiological profiles in plateau pikas through controlled feeding and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) experiments. The results show that a high-methionine diet significantly enhanced cellular immunity in both sexes and humoral immunity in males, reduced the intensity of coccidian infection, and elevated GnRH, estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone levels. Microbiota analysis reveals that, while the dietary content of methionine does not alter the α-diversity of the gut microbiota, it does significantly affect the β-diversity, with enrichment of the genera Alistipes, Prevotella, and Prevotellaceae_UCG-001 observed in the high-methionine diet group. Fecal microbiota transplantation from high-methionine diet group pikas increased the relative abundances of Alistipes and Prevotella in female and male recipients, respectively. In parallel, these microbial shifts were accompanied by increased cellular immunity in both sexes and humoral immunity in males, reduced coccidian infection, and increased male reproductive traits. In contrast, female recipients showed no significant changes in reproductive traits. Metagenomic functional annotation showed that functional pathways involved in energy, amino acid metabolism, and carbohydrate metabolism exhibited lower abundance in female recipients, while those involved in amino acid and lipid metabolism exhibited higher abundance in male recipients following microbiota transplantation from high-methionine diet group donor pikas. Collectively, these findings suggest that improvements in immunity and reproductive physiological profiles induced by a high-methionine diet may partially contribute to the abundances of specific gut microbial taxa in plateau pikas.
Source: Animals
DOI: 10.3390/ani16223566
Language: English
Topic: Gut microbiota and health
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,896
OpenAlex ID: W7225823745