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The Pelvic Flexure Separates Distinct Microbial Communities In The Equine Hindgut, Kailee J. Reed, Isabelle G. Z. Kunz, Jessica A. Scare, Martin K. Nielsen, Philip J. Turk, Robert J. Coleman, Stephen J. Coleman

Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center Faculty Publications

As hindgut fermenters, horses are especially dependent on the microbiota residing in their cecum and large intestines. Interactions between these microbial populations and the horse are critical for maintaining gut homeostasis, which supports proper digestion. The current project was motivated to determine if any features of the fecal microbiota are informative of the microbial communities from the cecum, ventral colon, or dorsal colon. Digesta from the cecum, ventral colon, dorsal colon and feces were collected from 6 yearling miniature horses. Microbial DNA was isolated and the microbiota from each sample was characterized by profiling the V4 region of the 16S …