野生动物与肠道菌群的协同进化关系一直是保护生物学研究领域的热点。肠道菌群在宿主营养代谢、健康疾病、遗传多样性和适应性进化等方面发挥重要作用。然而，不同肠道菌在宿主体内发挥的具体作用尚有许多未知，菌群结构变化对宿主代谢的影响也未明确。大熊猫特化的植食食性及其食肉动物的生理结构为研究肠道菌群与宿主代谢的互作提供了理想模型。申请人所在研究组前期研究证实大熊猫肠道菌群参与宿主食性的适应性进化过程，其结构与功能随食性季节转换而变化。在此研究基础上，本申请提出大熊猫肠道菌群调节宿主代谢以适应食性季节转换的假说，拟通过宏基因组学、代谢组学和粪菌移植无菌小鼠等技术，建立参考宏基因组，深入分析大熊猫不同季节肠道菌群结构和功能，揭示影响宿主代谢的关键功能菌及其作用模式。本研究旨在推动大熊猫肠道菌群研究精准到菌株水平，为野生动物与肠道菌群协同进化关系提供新的视角，为野生动物保护决策和管理制度的制定提供科学指导。

Co-evolution of wild animals and gut microbiota has been a research hotspot in conservation biology. Gut microbiota plays critical roles in host nutrition metabolism, health and diseases, genetic diversity and adaptive evolution. However, it is not clear about the function of each kind of gut bacteria, and little is known about the influence of the change in bacterial structure on host metabolism. Specialized herbivorous diet of giant pandas and their carnivore metabolic systems provide an ideal model for studying the interactions between gut microbiota and host metabolism. Previous studies in our laboratory have proven that gut microbiota is indispensable for the adaptive evolution of giant panda’s diet, and seasonal diet variation shapes gut bacterial structure and function. In this proposal, we hypothesize that gut microbiota of giant panda regulate host metabolism to adapt to seasonal variation in nutrient utilization. To test this hypothesis, an integrated approach combining metagenomic sequencing, based on Illumina and Nanopore platforms, and metabolomics identification, based on LC-MS/MS technology, will be used to identify the key bacteria that regulate giant pandas metabolism. Subsequently, we will screen the key bacteria and transplant them into germ-free mice to evaluate the regulating effect of gut bacteria on host metabolism, revealing its underlying mechanism. This study will contribute to the development of research on gut microbiota of wild animals at the strain level. Our results will provide a novel insight into the co-evolution between wild animals and their microbiome, which have an important implication for improving the conservation and management of wildlife.