Captivity restructures the gut microbiota of François’ langurs (Trachypithecus francoisi)

Abstract Data on gut microbiota of captive and wild animals can provide physiological and ecological basis for breeding and population rejuvenation of endangered species. Different diets lead to changes in the gut microbiota composition of animals. In this study, we examine the difference in the gut microbiota composition between the captive and wild Francois’ langurs (Trachypithecus francoisi), using 16S rRNA sequencing technology. The results showed that the composition of gut microbiota of captive langurs and wild langurs were characterized by Firmicutes (the captive langurs = 51.93% ± 10.07%; the wild langurs = 76.15% ± 8.37%) and Bacteroidetes (the captive langurs = 32.43% ± 10.00%; the wild langurs = 4.82% ± 1.41%) at the phylum level and were featured by Oscillospiraceae (the captive langurs = 15.80% ± 5.19%; the wild langurs = 30.21% ± 4.87%) at the family level. The alpha diversity of gut microbiota in captive langurs were higher than those in wild group, including Shannon index (4.45 ± 0.33 VS 3.98 ± 0.19, P < 0.001) and invSimpson index (35.11 ± 15.63 VS 19.02 ± 4.87, P < 0.001) but excluding Ace index (560.56 ± 62.44 VS 540.56 ± 39.72, P = 0.162;) and Chao index (570.86 ± 66.38 VS 544.78 ± 39.52, P = 0.141). PCoA result showed that there were significant differences in the composition of gut microbiota between captive and wild langurs at both phylum and family level (weight UniFrac algorithm, phylum level: R2 = 0.748, P = 0.001, family level: R2 = 0.685, P = 0.001). Captive langurs’ relative abundance of Firmicutes (51.93% ± 10.07%) was lower than that of wild langurs’ (76.15% ± 8.37%), and the relative abundance of Bacteroides (32.43% ± 10.00%) was higher than that of wild langurs’ (4.82% ± 1.41%). These differences should be linked to the fact that the diversity composition of captive langurs was lower than that of wild langurs and higher in simple carbohydrates. Variations in the gut microbiota of captive and wild should be linked to the differences in langurs’ dietary compositions, because the captive langurs consumed more fiber-rich and less simple carbohydrates-rich foods than wild langurs. Our study concluded that dietary composition could be crucial determinant in shaping gut microbiota of langurs, highlighting the importance of captivity on the gut microbiota structure and function and the need to consider the gut microbiota in animal provision.