（通訊員 莫全）近日，我院李家奎教授團隊在《Trends in Food Science & Technology》發表題為“High altitude microbiome: Insight into yak gut microbiota and its nutritional and functional involvement for food systems”的綜述性論文。系統總結了牦牛腸道微生物在高海拔極端環境中的獨特适應機制及其在畜牧和食品行業中的潛在應用價值。
牦牛作為我國青藏高原的特有畜種，是青藏高原“能量轉換器”，具有重要的經濟和生态學價值。牦牛的耐寒、耐缺氧、耐粗飼等特征與其腸道微生物的獨特性緊密相關，論文系統總結了牦牛腸道微生物群在分解植物纖維、産生短鍊脂肪酸（SCFAs）、氮代謝以及免疫調節方面的關鍵作用及機制。結合團隊前期研究結果詳細闡述了牦牛源益生菌通過增強腸道穩态、腸道屏障功能、宿主免疫力以及調節腸道菌群及其代謝産物來發揮健康功效的潛在機制。同時系統分析了牦牛腸道微生物在提高飼料效率、減少甲烷排放以及開發新型益生菌和功能性食品添加劑方面的潛在應用前景，為畜牧業減抗替抗、實現牦牛産業綠色發展提供了新的視角。
我院博士後Muhammad Fakhar-e-Alam kulyar和莫全為共同第一作者，李家奎教授為通訊作者。論文相關研究工作得到現代農業産業技術體系和西藏自治區重點研發項目的資助。
審核人：李家奎
論文摘要如下：
Background: The yak, one of the most representative species from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, is well adapted to hypoxic, frigid, and nutritionally inadequate conditions. Such adaptation is deeply rooted in its gut microbiota, highly specialized at the consortium level in the hydrolysis of recalcitrant plant polymers, biosynthesis of volatile fatty acids, and metabolic coordination between hosts and microbes. Scope and approach: This review transcends conventional microbiota compositional studies to examine the metabolic and ecological basis of the yak gut microbiome. Throughout, particular attention was given to the dominant cellulolytic genera comprising Ruminococcus and Fibrobacter with methanogenic archaea, explaining their synergistic roles in the degradation of plant biomass, utilization of hydrogen, and biogenesis of methane. Discussion on such topics emphasizes altitude-induced microbiota perturbations, implications for host immune modulation, and their translational potential for biotechnological innovation. Besides, it provides an overall comparison between the yak-specific microbiota and conventional probiotic formulation while pointing out the essential roles in ecological functioning and adaptive relevance to physiological stresses in extreme environments.
Key findings: Yak gut microbiota exhibit striking seasonal plasticity, reflecting the forage-mediated shift in the functional metagenomic pathways of lignocellulose degradation, nitrogen assimilation, and biosynthesis of SCFAs. Adding metabolic efficiency, microbiota-mediated modulation of mTOR and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α pathways underlines their role in energy homeostasis, lactation performance, and reproductive physiology. These findings have established the unrivaled ecological versatility of the yak microbiota and their potential to improve methane mitigation and sustainable livestock management. The development of host-microbiome metabolic modeling through priorities for functional redundancy and microbial synergy facilitates precision probiotics and climate-resilient livestock systems. This work has pointed out the knowledge gaps and underlined the transformative potential of yak microbiota in solving global challenges associated with food security and sustainable agriculture.
論文鍊接: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2025.104897
