动物与其肠道微生物之间的互利共生关系是一种经典的共生关系。动物的行为（如食性选择）常常会影响其肠道微生物。冬眠是一种普遍的生物学现象，在哺乳动物中广泛存在。利用16S扩增子测序进行的比较研究表明哺乳动物的冬眠行为会导致其肠道微生物群落发生季节性变化，但由于缺乏对肠道微生物的功能注释及代谢通路分析，无法将肠道微生物的变化和宿主的冬眠生理进行关联，这就限制了对该共生关系中另一重要方面——肠道微生物变化对宿主的影响的认知。蝙蝠是冬眠哺乳动物的代表类群，本研究拟采用16S扩增子测序、宏基因组测序相结合的方法，同时结合活跃期和冬眠期蝙蝠血液代谢物分析，在分析蝙蝠冬眠行为对其肠道微生物造成影响的同时，分析微生物变化和宿主的冬眠生理间的关系。进一步通过对无菌小鼠进行活跃/冬眠期蝙蝠肠道微生物移植实验，在功能上验证微生物变化对于宿主的影响。从而全面的阐释冬眠对蝙蝠与其肠道微生物之间共生关系产生的影响。

Animal and its gut microbiota are a textbook example of mutualism between species. The gut microbiota are often affected by animal's behaviors (e.g. feeding strategies). Hibernation is a common biological phenomenon, which has a wide distribution in mammals. Comparative studies using 16S amplicon sequencing suggest that hibernation can alter the diversity and composition of mammals' gut microbiota. However, lack of functional annotation and pathway analysis makes it difficult to find the association between gut microbiota variations and hibernation physiology of its host, which limits the knowledge about the another important aspect of this mutualism, i.e., the effects of gut microbiota variations on its host. Bats are representative groups of hibernating mammals. In this study, we plan to apply 16S amplicon sequencing and metagenome sequencing, combining with comparative analyses of blood metabolin between active and torpid bats, to analyze the effects of bats' hibernation on their gut microbiota and the association between gut microbiota variations and hibernation physiology of its host. Moreover, experiments that transplanting the gut microbiota of active/torpid bats into germ-free mouses will be further conducted to verify the effects of gut microbiota variations on its host. Finally, the effects of hibernation on the mutualism between bats and their gut microbiota can be globally interpreted.