Association between diet and rumen microbiota in wild roe deer.

The association between diet and the rumen microbiota for wild animals remains largely unexplored. Here, we explored this association using a combination of 16S rRNA gene sequencing to determine the prokaryote microbiota and 18S rRNA gene sequencing to determine the dietary components for wild roe deer. These analyses revealed a wide diversity of dietary components, with over-representation of Bacteroidetes for the diet-correlating bacteria. Ruminococcus, on the other hand, dominated the stable diet-independent part of the microbiota. Taken together, the combination of 16S and 18S rRNA gene analyses provide novel insight into rumen microbiota ecology. © FEMS 2019.