ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 18 November 2016 doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01854 Temporal Metagenomic and Metabolomic Characterization of Fresh Perennial Ryegrass Degradation by Rumen Bacteria Olga L. Mayorga 1 †, Alison H. Kingston-Smith 1, Eun J. Kim 2, Gordon G. Allison 1, Toby J. Wilkinson 1, Matthew J. Hegarty 1, Michael K. Theodorou 3, Charles J. Newbold 1 and Sharon A. Huws 1* 1 Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK, 2 Department of Animal Science, Kyungpook National University, Sangju, Korea, 3 Department of Animal Production, Welfare and Veterinary Sciences, Harper Adams University, Newport, UK Edited by: Understanding the relationship between ingested plant material and the attached Zhongtang Yu, Ohio State University, USA microbiome is essential for developing methodologies to improve ruminant nutrient use Reviewed by: efficiency. We have previously shown that perennial ryegrass (PRG) rumen bacterial Suzanne Lynn Ishaq, colonization events follow a primary (up to 4 h) and secondary (after 4 h) pattern based Montana State University, USA Seungha Kang, on the differences in diversity of the attached bacteria. In this study, we investigated Commonwealth Scientific and temporal niche specialization of primary and secondary populations of attached rumen Industrial Research Organisation microbiota using metagenomic shotgun sequencing as well as monitoring changes in the (CSIRO), Australia plant chemistry using mid-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Metagenomic Rapid Annotation *Correspondence: Sharon A. Huws using Subsystem Technology (MG-RAST) taxonomical analysis of shotgun metagenomic
[email protected] sequences showed that the genera Butyrivibrio, Clostridium, Eubacterium, Prevotella, † Present Address: and Selenomonas dominated the attached microbiome irrespective of time.