ArticlePloS one2014
A comparative metagenome survey of the fecal microbiota of a breast- and a plant-fed Asian elephant reveals an unexpectedly high diversity of glycoside hydrolase family enzymes.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut Microbiota Differences in Wild Asian Elephants From Pu'er, China.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Ecological and methodological insights from genetic and coprological profiling of gastrointestinal communities in wild howler monkeys.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Characterization of gut microbiota in wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) from five forests across Thailand.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A Comparison of the Gut Microbiome of Two Sympatric Macropods Along an Urbanisation Gradient in Tasmania.Environmental microbiology reports · 2026Article
- Development of gut microbiota composition in captive Asian elephants: a year-long analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Comprehensive catalog of gut microbial genomes in Asian elephants: insights from shotgun metagenomics.Animal microbiome · 2026Article
- Intestinal microbiome diversity and disparity between wild and captive endangered Asian elephants (Elephas maximus indicus) in southern India.Antonie van Leeuwenhoek · 2025Article
- Fecal DNA Metabarcoding Reveals the Diet of Asian Elephant in China During the Dry Season: Implications for Adaptation to Habitat Resources and Conservation.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Analysis on gut microbiota diversity of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) from three regions of Yunnan Province.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Metagenome-derived SusD-homologs affiliated with Bacteroidota bind to synthetic polymers.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- What Can the Gut Microbiota of Animals Teach Us about the Relationship between Nutrition and Burden of Lifestyle Diseases?Nutrients · 2024Review
- Exploring the gut microbiota of healthy captive Asian elephants from various locations in Yunnan, China.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Microbiome variations among age classes and diets of captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Thailand using full-length 16S rRNA nanopore sequencing.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Fecal microbiota of the synanthropic golden jackal (Canis aureus).Animal microbiome · 2023Article
- Article
- Metagenomic Sequencing Reveals the Taxonomic and Functional Characteristics of Rumen Micro-organisms in Gayals.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- Isolation and characterisation of novel Methanocorpusculum species indicates the genus is ancestrally host-associated.BMC biology · 2023Article
- The Gut Microbiota of Young Asian Elephants with Different Milk-Containing Diets.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Role of metagenomics in prospecting novel endoglucanases, accentuating functional metagenomics approach in second-generation biofuel production: a review.Biomass conversion and biorefinery · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A phylogenetic and metagenomic study of elephant feces samples (derived from a three-weeks-old and a six-years-old Asian elephant) was conducted in order to describe the microbiota inhabiting this large land-living animal. The microbial diversity was examined via 16S rRNA gene analysis. We generated more than 44,000 GS-FLX+454 reads for each animal. For the baby elephant, 380 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified at 97% sequence identity level; in the six-years-old animal, close to 3,000 OTUs were identified, suggesting high microbial diversity in the older animal. In both animals most OTUs belonged to Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Additionally, for the baby elephant a high number of Proteobacteria was detected. A metagenomic sequencing approach using Illumina technology resulted in the generation of 1.1 Gbp assembled DNA in contigs with a maximum size of 0.6 Mbp. A KEGG pathway analysis suggested high metabolic diversity regarding the use of polymers and aromatic and non-aromatic compounds. In line with the high phylogenetic diversity, a surprising and not previously described biodiversity of glycoside hydrolase (GH) genes was found. Enzymes of 84 GH families were detected. Polysaccharide utilization loci (PULs), which are found in Bacteroidetes, were highly abundant in the dataset; some of these comprised cellulase genes. Furthermore the highest coverage for GH5 and GH9 family enzymes was detected for Bacteroidetes, suggesting that bacteria of this phylum are mainly responsible for the degradation of cellulose in the Asian elephant. Altogether, this study delivers insight into the biomass conversion by one of the largest plant-fed and land-living animals.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.