FLICKR, CATHY STANLEY-ERICKSON
A survey of the gut microbiota of 45 giant pandas published this week (May 19) in mBio suggests that the bamboo-eating bears are short on species of bacteria known to help other herbivores digest plant material. Herbivores that don’t make the enzymes needed to digest cellulose on their own often rely on their gut bacteria to take care of the job. In an effort to understand whether pandas use a similar strategy to digest the large quantities of bamboo they consume, a group of researchers in China produced 16S ribosomal DNA sequence profiles for panda stool samples collected in the spring, summer, and fall over the course of a year.
The team found that panda microbiomes vary widely among individuals and across seasons. Overall, the ...
