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The Gastrointestinal Tract Microbiota Of The Obligate Bamboo Foragers, The Giant Panda (Ailuropoda Melanoleuca) And The Red Panda (Ailurus Fulgens), Candace Lareine Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Previously, the exact phylogenetic relationship between the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) has been unclear, but with the advent of molecular sequencing technologies, these two animals are now known to be distantly related. Although taxonomically distinct, these two panda species have several things in common, primarily their almost exclusively bamboo diet, but also their similar physical adaptations to their diet and their sympatry in some locations. What was unknown was if their similarities also extended to their gastrointestinal tract (GIT) microbiota. Using next-generation 16S rRNA parallel sequencing technologies, we uncovered several factors that impact bacterial …