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Terrestrial Vertebrate Animal Metagenomics: Non-domesticated Ursidae, Panda

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Encyclopedia of Metagenomics

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Synonyms

Cellulolytic bacteria, Gut microbiota, Metagenomics, Phylogenetic composition, Plant biomass, The giant panda

Definition

As a bamboo-eating mammalian species in the “bear” family Ursidae, the giant panda holds a unique place in the evolution of mammals. This review covers our present knowledge of the structural and functional characteristics of its fecal microbiota.

Introduction

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is endemic to Western China. Unfortunately, it becomes one of the most endangered mammals, due in part to its low fecundity rate, low nutrition intake efficiency, as well as anthropogenic activities that have negatively affected its population for 3,000 years (Zhao et al. 2013). The latest molecular census of its population size suggests that there are only 2,500–3,000 giant pandas living at present in the wild (Zhan et al. 2006), and only a handful of geographically isolated populations are retained in several small mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, Shanghai, China

    Zhengsheng Xue, Liping Zhao & Xiaoyan Pang

  2. Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Liping Zhao

Authors
  1. Zhengsheng Xue
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  2. Liping Zhao
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  3. Xiaoyan Pang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liping Zhao .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Karen E. Nelson

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Xue, Z., Zhao, L., Pang, X. (2014). Terrestrial Vertebrate Animal Metagenomics: Non-domesticated Ursidae, Panda. In: Nelson, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Metagenomics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6418-1_9-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6418-1_9-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6418-1

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