Effect of high contents of dietary animal-derived protein or carbohydrates on canine faecal microbiota

The DC diet sample showed high abundance of representatives of the orders Clostridiales, Lactobacillales, Coriobacteriales and Bacteroidales. Sequence diversity was highest for DC diet samples and included representatives of the orders Lactobacillales and Bacteroidales, which were not detected in samples from the HP and HC diets. These latter two diets also had reduced levels of representatives of the family Lachnospiraceae, specifically Clostridial cluster XIVa. The HC diet favoured representatives of the order Erysipelotrichales, more specifically the Clostridial cluster XVIII, while the HP diet favoured representatives of the order Fusobacteriales.This study detected Coriobacteriales in dog faeces, possibly due to the non-selective nature of the %G？+？C profiling method used in combination with sequencing. Moreover, our work demonstrates that the effect of diet on faecal microbiota can be explained based on the metabolic properties of the detected microbial taxa.The microbial ecology of the canine gastro-intestinal (GI) tract is a rapidly expanding research area in veterinary medicine. The intestinal tract harbours a large number of prokaryotes, mainly bacteria, which exceed the number of host cells. Complex interactions exist between the eukaryotic and prokaryotic components; the latter are important in maintaining the health of the former by playing a vital role in the normal nutritional, physiological, immunological and protective functions of the host [1]. The amount and form of food, feeding frequency and diet composition are known to have important effects on GI function. Both nutrients and non-nutritional dietary components influence gut health in terms of intestinal microbiota [2]. Alterations in the intestinal microbiota or aberrations in immune responses to its components are hypothesized to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of enteropathies (e.g., inflammatory bowel disease, dietary intolerance, sensitivity and allergy) [1]. An important focus of