Exploring the distinctive characteristics of gut microbiota across different horse breeds and ages using metataxonomics.
Abstract: Gut microbiota exerts a pivotal function in host nutrient metabolism and maturation of the mucosal immunity. Analyzing the reciprocal interaction between horses and gut microbiota constitutes a crucial aspect of scientific feeding practices. This study aims to investigate the differences in gut microbiota among Hequ horses, Mongolian horses, and Thoroughbred horses, as well as between Thoroughbred horses at two age stages. Unassigned: Paired-end sequencing with a read length of 2×250 bp targeting the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene in fecal samples was carried out. Subsequently, differences in the diversity, composition, and metabolic pathways of the gut microbiota among the groups were analyzed. The results showed that: (1) Horse breeds were associated with variations in the gut microbiota. Microbial diversity, the proportion of commensal bacteria from Bacillota and Bacteroidota, and bacterial communities involved in dietary fiber metabolisms were significantly higher in the gut of the Hequ horses than in the gut of the Mongolian and Thoroughbred horses. The highest Bacillota to Bacteroidota (B/B) ratio and enrichment of bacterial communities involved in the metabolism of bile acids, lipids, and amino acids in the gut of the Mongolian horses resulted in significantly higher lipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism than in the other two breeds. The bacterial communities enriched in the gut of Thoroughbred horses were primarily involved in carbohydrate metabolism, but the level of energy metabolism was significantly lower than in Hequ horses. (2) The results also showed an association between age and gut microbiota of Thoroughbred horses. The alpha diversity, B/B ratio, and 83.33% of metabolic pathways did not differ significantly between younger and older Thoroughbred horses. However, there were significant differences between the two age groups in beta diversity, composition of glycolytic bacteria, metabolism of cofactors and vitamins, and energy metabolism of gut microbiota. Unassigned: Collectively, these results point to an association between the breed of horses or the age of Thoroughbred horses with variations in gut microbiota. The current findings will serve as a reference for improving feeding strategies for horses.
Copyright © 2025 Qin, Xi, Zhao, Han, Qu, Xu and Weng.
Publication Date: 2025-07-07 PubMed ID: 40692682PubMed Central: PMC12277257DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1590839Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
- Journal Article
Summary
This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.
The research paper examines the differences in gut microbiota across different breeds of horses and different ages of Thoroughbred horses, finding variations linked to breed and age. The study provides important information for improving horse feeding strategies.
Research Methodology
- The method involved a paired-end sequencing approach of 2×250 bp read length. It targeted the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene in fecal samples from Hequ horses, Mongolian horses, and Thoroughbred horses.
- Researchers then examined the differences in diversity, composition and metabolic pathways of gut microbiota amongst the different breeds and age groups.
Key Findings
- There was a strong link between horse breed and variations in gut microbiota.
- The Hequ horses had significantly higher microbial diversity, larger proportions of commensal bacteria strains such as Bacillota and Bacteroidota, and higher numbers of bacterial communities involved in dietary fiber metabolisms.
- Mongolian horses had a higher Bacillota to Bacteroidota (B/B) ratio, and a higher enrichment of bacterial communities involved in the metabolism of bile acids, lipids, and amino acids. This suggested significantly higher lipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism than the other two breeds.
- The Thoroughbred horses’ gut microbiota primarily participated in carbohydrate metabolism, but showed significantly lower energy metabolism levels than Hequ horses.
- Age was also shown to affect the gut microbiota of Thoroughbred horses. The alpha diversity, B/B ratio, and majority of metabolic pathways did not differ significantly between younger and older Thoroughbred horses.
- However, notable differences were observed between the two age groups. These differences involved beta diversity, composition of glycolytic bacteria, metabolism of cofactors, vitamins, and energy metabolism of gut microbiota.
Conclusion
- Overall, the research has found a clear correlation between the breed of horses and the variations in their gut microbiota. There were also differences noted between younger and older Thoroughbred horses.
- The researchers believe these findings could be important for refining feeding strategies for horses.
Cite This Article
APA
Qin X, Xi L, Zhao L, Han J, Qu H, Xu Y, Weng W.
(2025).
Exploring the distinctive characteristics of gut microbiota across different horse breeds and ages using metataxonomics.
Front Cell Infect Microbiol, 15, 1590839.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2025.1590839 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.
- College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.
- College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.
- College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.
- College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.
- College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.
- Department of Research and Development, Inner Mongolia Huatian Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Chifeng, China.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Horses / microbiology
- Gastrointestinal Microbiome
- RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
- Feces / microbiology
- Bacteria / classification
- Bacteria / genetics
- Bacteria / isolation & purification
- Bacteria / metabolism
- Age Factors
- Metagenomics / methods
- DNA, Bacterial / genetics
- Biodiversity
- Sequence Analysis, DNA
Conflict of Interest Statement
Author WW was employed by Inner Mongolia Huatian Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
References
This article includes 77 references
- Adams VJ, LeBlanc N, Penell J. Results of a clinical trial showing changes to the faecal microbiome in racing Thoroughbreds after feeding a nutritional supplement. Vet. Sci. 2022;10:27.
- Ahmad AA, Zhang J, Liang Z, Du M, Yang Y, Zheng J. Age-dependent variations in rumen bacterial community of Mongolian cattle from weaning to adulthood. BMC Microbiol. 2022;22:213.
- Ai YH, Wang XS. Research progress of Mongolian horse nutrition. Feed Res. 2019;42:125–128.
- Akter R, El-Hage CM, Sansom FM, Carrick J, Devlin JM, Legione AR. Metagenomic investigation of potential abortigenic pathogens in foetal tissues from Australian horses. BMC Genomics 2021;22:713.
- Altermann E, Klaenhammer TR. PathwayVoyager: pathway mapping using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database. BMC Genomics 2005;6:60.
- Arnold CE, Pilla R, Chaffin MK, Leatherwood JL, Wickersham TA, Callaway TR. The effects of signalment, diet, geographic location, season, and colitis associated with antimicrobial use or Salmonella infection on the fecal microbiome of horses. J. Vet. Intern. Med. 2021;35:2437–2448.
- Ayoub C, Arroyo LG, Renaud D, Weese JS, Gomez DE. Fecal microbiota comparison between healthy teaching horses and client-owned horses. J. Equine. Vet. Sci. 2022;1:104105.
- Bailey E, Finno CJ, Cullen JN, Kalbfleisch T, Petersen JL. Analyses of whole-genome sequences from 185 North American Thoroughbred horses, spanning 5 generations. Sci. Rep. 2024;14:22930.
- Bao T, Han H, Li B, Zhao Y, Bou G, Zhang X. The distinct transcriptomes of fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles in Mongolian horses. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. Part D Genomics Proteomics 2020;33:100649.
- Baraille M, Buttet M, Grimm P, Milojevic V, Julliand S, Julliand V. Changes of faecal bacterial communities and microbial fibrolytic activity in horses aged from 6 to 30 years old. PloS One 2024;19:e0303029.
- Biddle AS, Tomb JF, Fan Z. Microbiome and blood analyte differences point to community and metabolic signatures in lean and obese horses. Front. Vet. Sci. 2018;5.
- Bolger AM, Lohse M, Usadel B. Trimmomatic: a flexible trimmer for Illumina sequence data. Bioinformatics 2014;30:2114–2120.
- Bolyen E, Rideout JR, Dillon MR, Bokulich NA, Abnet CC, Al-Ghalith GA. Reproducible, interactive, scalable and extensible microbiome data science using QIIME 2. Nat. Biotechnol. 2019;37:852–857.
- Callahan BJ, McMurdie PJ, Rosen MJ, Han AW, Johnson AJ, Holmes SP. DADA2: High-resolution sample inference from Illumina amplicon data. Nat. Methods 2016;13:581–583.
- Cho HY, Lee GY, Ali MS, Park SC. Effects of dietary intake of heat-inactivated Limosilactobacillus reuteri PSC102 on the growth performance, immune response, and gut microbiota in weaned piglets. Pak. Vet. J. 2024;44:819–825.
- Chu HZ, Meng J, Tan XH, Yao XK, Wei RY, Liu J. Analysis and study on the growth of 8–11 months Ili colts of different male parents by supplementation. Xinjiang Agric. Sci. 2012;49:926–933.
- Collinet A, Grimm P, Julliand S, Julliand V. Sequential modulation of the Equine fecal microbiota and fibrolytic capacity following two consecutive abrupt dietary changes and bacterial supplementation. Anim. (Basel) 2021;11:1278.
- Costa MC, Stämpfli HR, Allen-Vercoe E, Weese JS. Development of the faecal microbiota in foals. Equine. Vet. J. 2016;48:681–688.
- De La Torre U, Henderson JD, Furtado KL, Pedroja M, Elenamarie O, Mora A. Utilizing the fecal microbiota to understand foal gut transitions from birth to weaning. PloS One 2019;14:e0216211.
- Dong Z, Zhang D, Wu X, Yin Y, Wan D. Ferrous bisglycinate supplementation modulates intestinal antioxidant capacity via the AMPK/FOXO pathway and reconstitutes gut microbiota and bile acid profiles in pigs. J. Agric. Food. Chem. 2022;70:4942–4951.
- Dougal K, de la Fuente G, Harris PA, Girdwood SE, Pinloche E, Geor RJ. Characterisation of the faecal bacterial community in adult and elderly horses fed a high fibre, high oil or high starch diet using 454 pyrosequencing. PloS One 2014;9:87424.
- Douglas GM, Maffei VJ, Zaneveld J, Yurgel SN, Brown JR, Taylor CM. PICRUSt2 for prediction of metagenome functions. Nat. Biotechnol. 2020;38:685–688.
- Ericsson AC, Johnson PJ, Lopes MA, Perry SC, Lanter HR. A microbiological map of the healthy Equine gastrointestinal tract. PloS One 2016;11:e0166523.
- Fei Y, Zhang S, Han S, Qiu B, Lu Y, Huang W. The role of Dihydroresveratrol in enhancing the synergistic effect of Ligilactobacillus salivarius Li01 and Resveratrol in Ameliorating colitis in mice. Res. (Wash D C) 2022;2022:9863845.
- Garber A, Hastie P, Murray JA. Factors influencing Equine gut microbiota: Current knowledge. J. Equine. Vet. Sci. 2020;88:102943.
- Gharechahi J, Vahidi MF, Ding XZ, Han JL, Salekdeh GH. Temporal changes in microbial communities attached to forages with different lignocellulosic compositions in cattle rumen. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 2020;96:fiaa069.
- Gower JC. Some distance properties of latent root and vector methods used in multivariate analysis. Biometrika 1996;53.
- Han H, Zhang L, Shang Y, Wang M, Phillips CJC, Wang Y. Replacement of maize silage and soyabean meal with mulberry silage in the diet of Hu lambs on growth, gastrointestinal tissue morphology, rumen fermentation parameters and microbial diversity. Anim. (Basel) 2022;12:1406.
- Hernández-Quiroz F, Murugesan S, Flores-Rivas C, Piña-Escobedo A, Juárez-Hernández J, García-Espitia M. A high-throughput DNA sequencing study of fecal bacteria of seven Mexican horse breeds. Arch. Microbiol. 2022;204:382.
- Jiang F, Gao H, Qin W, Song P, Wang H, Zhang J. Marked seasonal variation in structure and function of gut microbiota in forest and alpine Musk deer. Front. Microbiol. 2021;12.
- Jin L, Huang Y, Yang S, Wu D, Li C, Deng W. Diet, habitat environment and lifestyle conversion affect the gut microbiomes of giant pandas. Sci. Total Environ. 2021;770:145316.
- Jize Z, Zhuoga D, Xiaoqing Z, Na T, Jiacuo G, Cuicheng L. Different feeding strategies can affect growth performance and rumen functions in Gangba sheep as revealed by integrated transcriptome and microbiome analyses. Front. Microbiol. 2022;13.
- Kim NY, Seong HS, Kim DC, Park NG, Yang BC, Son JK. Genome-wide analyses of the Jeju, Thoroughbred, and Jeju crossbred horse populations using the high density SNP array. Genes Genomics 2018;40:1249–1258.
- Kim SW, Oh MH, Jun SH, Jeon H, Kim SI, Kim K. Outer membrane Protein A plays a role in pathogenesis of. Virulence 2016;7:413–426.
- Kmezik C, Krska D, Mazurkewich S, Larsbrink J. Characterization of a novel multidomain CE15-GH8 enzyme encoded by a polysaccharide utilization locus in the human gut bacterium Bacteroides eggerthii. Sci. Rep. 2021;11:17662.
- Kobayashi R, Nagaoka K, Nishimura N, Koike S, Takahashi E, Niimi K. Comparison of the fecal microbiota of two monogastric herbivorous and five omnivorous mammals. Anim. Sci. J. 2020;91:e13366.
- Lara F, Castro R, Thomson P. Changes in the gut microbiome and colic in horses: Are they causes or consequences?. Open Vet. J. 2022;12:242–249.
- Leng J, Moller-Levet C, Mansergh RI, O’Flaherty R, Cooke R, Sells P. Early-life gut bacterial community structure predicts disease risk and athletic performance in horses bred for racing. Sci. Rep. 2024;14:17124.
- Li Y, Lan Y, Zhang S, Wang X. Comparative analysis of gut microbiota between healthy and diarrheic horses. Front. Vet. Sci. 2022;9.
- Li C, Li X, Guo R, Ni W, Liu K, Liu Z. Expanded catalogue of metagenome-assembled genomes reveals resistome characteristics and athletic performance-associated microbes in horse. Microbiome 2023;11:7.
- Li Y, Liu C, Liu Q, Liu W. Comparative genomic analysis reveals intestinal habitat adaptation of Ligilactobacillus equi rich in prophage and degrading cellulase. Molecules 2022;27:1867.
- Lindenberg FC, Lützhøft DO, Krych L, Fielden J, Kot W, Frøkiær H. An Oligosaccharide rich diet increases Akkermansia spp. bacteria in the Equine microbiota. Front. Microbiol. 2021;12.
- Liu J, Wang JK, Zhu W, Pu YY, Guan LL, Liu JX. Monitoring the rumen pectinolytic bacteria Treponema saccharophilum using real-time PCR. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 2014;87:576–585.
- Lozupone C, Knight R. UniFrac: a new phylogenetic method for comparing microbial communities. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2005;71:8228–8235.
- Lv S, Zhang Y, Zhang Z, Meng S, Pu Y, Liu X. Diversity of the fecal microbiota in Chinese ponies. Front. Vet. Sci. 2023;10.
- Ma J, Liu Z, Gao X, Bao Y, Hong Y, He X. Gut microbiota remodeling improves natural aging-related disorders through Akkermansia muciniphila and its derived acetic acid. Pharmacol. Res. 2023;189:106687.
- Mach N, Lansade L, Bars-Cortina D, Dhorne-Pollet S, Foury A, Moisan MP. Gut microbiota resilience in horse athletes following holidays out to pasture. Sci. Rep. 2021;11:5007.
- Mach N, Midoux C, Leclercq S, Pennarun S, Le Moyec L, Rué O. Mining the equine gut metagenome: poorly-characterized taxa associated with cardiovascular fitness in endurance athletes. Commun. Biol. 2022;5:1032.
- Martin M. Cutadapt removes adapter sequences from high-throughput sequencing reads. EMB net J. 2011;17:10–12.
- Massacci FR, Clark A, Ruet A, Lansade L, Costa M, Mach N. Inter-breed diversity and temporal dynamics of the faecal microbiota in healthy horses. J. Anim. Breed. Genet. 2020;137:103–120.
- McGivney BA, Han H, Corduff LR, Katz LM, Tozaki T, MacHugh DE. Genomic inbreeding trends, influential sire lines and selection in the global Thoroughbred horse population. Sci. Rep. 2020;10:466.
- Morrison PK, Newbold CJ, Jones E, Worgan HJ, Grove-White DH, Dugdale AH. The equine gastrointestinal microbiome: Impacts of age and obesity. Front. Microbiol. 2018;9.
- Park T, Yoon J, Kim A, Unno T, Yun Y. Comparison of the gut microbiota of Jeju and Thoroughbred horses in Korea. Vet. Sci. 2021;8:81.
- Parks DH, Beiko RG. Identifying biologically relevant differences between metagenomic communities. Bioinformatics 2010;26:715–721.
- Petry AL, Patience JF, Huntley NF, Koester LR, Bedford MR, Schmitz-Esser S. Xylanase supplementation modulates the microbiota of the large intestine of pigs fed corn-based fiber by means of a stimbiotic mechanism of action. Front. Microbiol. 2021;12.
- Pourramezan Z, Ghezelbash GR, Romani B, Ziaei S, Hedayatkhah A. Screening and identification of newly isolated cellulose-degrading bacteria from the gut of xylophagous termite Microcerotermes diversus (Silvestri). Mikrobiologiia 2012;81:796–802.
- Qu W, Yuan X, Zhao J, Zhang Y, Hu J, Wang J. Dietary advanced glycation end products modify gut microbial composition and partially increase colon permeability in rats. Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 2017;61:1700118.
- Quast C, Pruesse E, Yilmaz P, Gerken J, Schweer T, Yarza P. The SILVA ribosomal RNA gene database project: improved data processing and web-based tools. Nucleic Acids Res. 2013;41:590–596.
- Rehman AU, Khan AI, Xin Y, Liang W. Morchella esculenta polysaccharide attenuate obesity, inflammation and modulate gut microbiota. AMB Express 2022;12:114.
- Segata N, Izard J, Waldron L, Gevers D, Miropolsky L, Garrett WS. Metagenomic biomarker discovery and explanation. Genome Biol. 2011;12:R60.
- Song X, Zhong L, Lyu N, Liu F, Li B, Hao Y. Inulin can alleviate metabolism disorders in ob/ob mice by partially restoring leptin-related pathways mediated by gut microbiota. Genomics Proteomics Bioinf. 2019;17:64–75.
- Su S, Zhao Y, Liu Z, Liu G, Du M, Wu J. Characterization and comparison of the bacterial microbiota in different gastrointestinal tract compartments of Mongolian horses. Microbiologyopen 2020;9:1085–1101.
- Theelen MJP, Luiken REC, Wagenaar JA, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM, Rossen JWA, Zomer AL. The Equine faecal microbiota of healthy horses and ponies in the Netherlands: Impact of host and environmental factors. Anim. (Basel) 2021;11:1762.
- van der Kolk JH, Endimiani A, Graubner C, Gerber V, Perreten V. Acinetobacter in veterinary medicine, with an emphasis on Acinetobacter baumannii. J. Glob. Antimicrob. Resist. 2019;16:59–71.
- Vermorel M, Martin-Rosset W. Concepts, scientific bases, structure and validation of the French horse net energy system (UFC). Livestock Production Sci. 1997;47:0–275.
- Wang D, Zeng J, Ma H, Fouad D, Su Z. Comparative analysis of the gut microbiota between two horse species. Pak. Vet. J. 2024;44:449–457.
- Waters JL, Ley RE. The human gut bacteria Christensenellaceae are widespread, heritable, and associated with health. BMC Biol. 2019;17:83.
- Weinert-Nelson JR, Biddle AS, Williams CA. Fecal microbiome of horses transitioning between warm-season and cool-season grass pasture within integrated rotational grazing systems. Anim. Microbiome 2022;4:41.
- Wen X, Luo S, Lv D, Jia C, Zhou X, Zhai Q. Variations in the fecal microbiota and their functions of Thoroughbred, Mongolian, and Hybrid horses. Front. Vet. Sci. 2022;9.
- Xie Q, Zhang Y, Zhang Z, Gong S, Mo Q, Li J. Characteristics and dynamic changes of gut microbiota in cats with colitis. Pak. Vet. J. 2024;44:414–422.
- Yan Q, Zhang S, Li S, Wang G, Zhang A, Jin T. Cultivation and genomic characterization of the bile bacterial species from cholecystitis patients. Front. Microbiol. 2021;12.
- Yan ZQ, Zhu CY, Ma ZT, Mao HX, Wei HL, Wang L. Research progress on the germplasm resources of Hequ horse. Gansu Anim. Husb. Vet. 2022;52:1–5.
- Yang J, Wang Y, Cui X, Zhang Y, Yu Z. Do different livestock dwellings on single grassland share similar faecal microbial communities?. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2019;103:5023–5037.
- Zhang X, Liu Y, Li L, Ma W, Bai D, Dugarjaviin M. Physiological and metabolic responses of Mongolian horses to a 20 km endurance exercise and screening for new oxidative-imbalance biomarkers. Anim. (Basel) 2025;15:1350.
- Zhang K, Su ZP, Xu Y, Li QL, Wang Y, Liu L. Isolation and identification of cellulose-degrading bacteria in the posterior intestine. Biotic Resour. 2020;42:228–233.
- Zhao L, Xu Q, Liu Y, Zhang Y, Zhong J. Isolation, whole genome sequencing and analysis of a sp C5.1, capable of producing vitamin B. Food Sci. 2022;43:1–13.
- Zhou Z, Tang L, Yan L, Jia H, Xiong Y, Shang J. Wild and captive environments drive the convergence of gut microbiota and impact health in threatened equids. Front. Microbiol. 2022;13.
Citations
This article has been cited 0 times.Use Nutrition Calculator
Check if your horse's diet meets their nutrition requirements with our easy-to-use tool Check your horse's diet with our easy-to-use tool
Talk to a Nutritionist
Discuss your horse's feeding plan with our experts over a free phone consultation Discuss your horse's diet over a phone consultation
Submit Diet Evaluation
Get a customized feeding plan for your horse formulated by our equine nutritionists Get a custom feeding plan formulated by our nutritionists