DGfZ-Preis 2024 (Dissertationen)

Selective review: Nonruminants gut microbiome is ​closely linked to the host genetics and plays a key
role in animal efficiency

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient that attracts particular attention in agriculture due to its environmental impact. Phosphorus utilization is subject to both genetic and microbial variance and correlations with a wide range of efficiency and performance traits are known. The utilization of phosphorus is partly influenced by the microbes present in the gastrointestinal tract of the animals. The extent to which the colonization of the gastrointestinal tract is influenced by host genetics was investigated using different statistical methods in this selective review. The influence of host genetics on the ileum microbiota was confirmed. In addition, the use of microbial information and the use of the complex of the host genome and the gut microbiota for the prediction of traits could be deciphered as favorable. The hypothesized causal triangular relationship between host genetics, gut microbial community and efficiency traits was confirmed using Bayesian networks and subsequent structural equation modelling association analysis.