Characterizing the metabolome and microbiome at giant panda scent marking sites during the mating season

Jin Hou; Vanessa Hull; Masanori Fujimoto; Zejun Zhang; Xiaoyuan Chen; Shiyu Chen; Rui Chen; Thomas Connor; Dunwu Qi; Jindong Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.110051

Characterizing the metabolome and microbiome at giant panda scent marking sites during the mating season

iScience. 2024 May 23;27(6):110051. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110051. eCollection 2024 Jun 21.

Authors

Jin Hou^{1

2}, Vanessa Hull³, Masanori Fujimoto⁴, Zejun Zhang¹, Xiaoyuan Chen¹, Shiyu Chen¹, Rui Chen¹, Thomas Connor⁵, Dunwu Qi⁶, Jindong Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation (Ministry of Education), China West Normal University, Nanchong, Sichuan Province 637002, China.
² College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
³ Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
⁴ Soil and Water Sciences Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
⁵ Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁶ Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu, Sichuan Province 610081, China.

Abstract

Scent marking sites served as a primary means of chemical communication for giant pandas, enabling intraspecific communication. We integrated metabolomics and high-throughput sequencing techniques to examine the non-targeted metabolome and microbial community structure of scent marking sites and feces in the field. Integrative analysis revealed a more comprehensive array of chemical compounds compared to previous investigations, including ketones, acids, heterocycles, alcohols, and aldehydes. Notably, specific compounds such as 2-decenal, (E)-, octanal, decanal, L-α-terpineol, vanillin, and nonanal emerged as potential key players in scent signaling. Intriguingly, our study of the microbial domain identified dominant bacterial species from the Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria phyla, likely orchestrating metabolic processes at scent marking sites. Comparative analyses showed, for the first time, that feces do not share the same functions as scent markers, indicating distinct functional roles. This research deepens scientific understanding of chemical communication in wild pandas.

Keywords: Metabolomics; Microbiome; Zoology.