Pre- and Post-Race Intestinal Microbiota in Long-Distance Sled Dogs and Associations with Performance
Kristoffer Relling Tysnes,
Inga Leena Angell,
Iselin Fjellanger,
Sigrid Drageset Larsen,
Silje Rebekka Søfteland,
Lucy J. Robertson,
Ellen Skancke,
Knut Rudi
Affiliations
Kristoffer Relling Tysnes
Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.B. 369 Sentrum, 0102 Oslo, Norway
Inga Leena Angell
Department of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food science (IKBM), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1430, Box 5003 Ås, Norway
Iselin Fjellanger
Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.B. 369 Sentrum, 0102 Oslo, Norway
Sigrid Drageset Larsen
Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.B. 369 Sentrum, 0102 Oslo, Norway
Silje Rebekka Søfteland
Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.B. 369 Sentrum, 0102 Oslo, Norway
Lucy J. Robertson
Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.B. 369 Sentrum, 0102 Oslo, Norway
Ellen Skancke
Department of Companion Animal Clinical Sciences (SportFaMed), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 0102 Oslo, Norway
Knut Rudi
Department of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food science (IKBM), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1430, Box 5003 Ås, Norway
Although our understanding of the role of the gut microbiota in different diseases is improving, our knowledge regarding how the gut microbiota affects functioning in healthy individuals is still limited. Here, we hypothesize that the gut microbiota could be associated with sled dog endurance-race performance. We investigated the gut microbiota in 166 fecal samples from 96 Alaskan Huskies, representing 16 teams participating in the 2016 Femund Race (400 km) in Norway, relating the microbiota composition to performance and metadata derived from questionnaires. For 16S rRNA gene sequencing-derived compositional data, we found a strong negative association between Enterobacteriaceae (dysbiosis-associated) and Clostridium hiranonis (normobiosis-associated). The teams with the best performances showed both the lowest levels of dysbiosis-associated bacteria prior to the race and the lowest change (decrease) in these bacteria after the race. Taken together, our results support the hypothesis that normobiosis-associated bacteria are involved in resilience mechanisms, potentially preventing growth of Enterobacteriaceae during the race.
