Characterizing the microbiota and profiling small non-coding RNAs in the compartments of the equine hindgut
type: CreativeWork
description: Gastrointestinal homeostasis is a complex relationship that encompasses the host's immune response, physiology, gut structure and the microbes residing within the host. Each one of these has pathways of communication in order to keep the host in a 'healthy state' or homeostasis. While each category has been extensively researched independently, interactions that occur between host and microbe are largely still unknown, especially within the equine species. Because horses are extremely prone to various gastrointestinal diseases, understanding the microbial populations and how the horse might communicate with those populations will provide more insight on equine gut homeostasis. The main objectives were to delineate the microbial structures residing within compartment of the hindgut and to begin to profile gene expression patterns of small RNAs within the same areas. Two different populations of animal subjects were used for the two projects in this thesis: a herd from the University of Kentucky (n=6) and a herd from Colorado State University (n=3). The herd from Kentucky was used for the microbiota data set in order to determine the microbial population structure within the cecum, right ventral colon, right dorsal colon and feces. First, we characterized microbial communities present in each of these anatomical sites and then completed a multivariate model to determine similarities of compartments and compared those to the fecal sample. The population of microorganisms observed in the proximal hindgut appeared similar between cecum and ventral colon, while the dorsal colon and fecal samples appeared to be more alike. Interestingly, there is an anatomical structure separating ventral and dorsal portions of the colon called the pelvic flexure. This could possibly be an indication of the host's contribution of determining the microbial communities in each anatomical region. We also demonstrated that while some microbial signatures from the proximal gut were identified i…
abstract: Gastrointestinal homeostasis is a complex relationship that encompasses the host's immune response, physiology, gut structure and the microbes residing within the host. Each one of these has pathways of communication in order to keep the host in a 'healthy state' or homeostasis. While each category has been extensively researched independently, interactions that occur between host and microbe are largely still unknown, especially within the equine species. Because horses are extremely prone to various gastrointestinal diseases, understanding the microbial populations and how the horse might communicate with those populations will provide more insight on equine gut homeostasis. The main objectives were to delineate the microbial structures residing within compartment of the hindgut and to begin to profile gene expression patterns of small RNAs within the same areas. Two different populations of animal subjects were used for the two projects in this thesis: a herd from the University of Kentucky (n=6) and a herd from Colorado State University (n=3). The herd from Kentucky was used for the microbiota data set in order to determine the microbial population structure within the cecum, right ventral colon, right dorsal colon and feces. First, we characterized microbial communities present in each of these anatomical sites and then completed a multivariate model to determine similarities of compartments and compared those to the fecal sample. The population of microorganisms observed in the proximal hindgut appeared similar between cecum and ventral colon, while the dorsal colon and fecal samples appeared to be more alike. Interestingly, there is an anatomical structure separating ventral and dorsal portions of the colon called the pelvic flexure. This could possibly be an indication of the host's contribution of determining the microbial communities in each anatomical region. We also demonstrated that while some microbial signatures from the proximal gut were identified i…
author: Reed, Kailee Janelle, author
author: Coleman, Stephen J., advisor
author: Bruemmer, Jason, committee member
author: Turk, Phillp, committee member
author: Bouma, Gerrit, committee member
language: eng
language: English
keywords: equine, microRNA, 16S, molecular biology, microbiota
date published: 2018
date modified: 2026-07-27T19:13:04Z
provider: Colorado State University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Colorado State University. Libraries

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10217/191466

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.25675/3.018543