FUKUMA Naoki Associate Professor
ThemeElucidation of microbial species related to fiber degradation or metabolic disorders and exploration of functional feed materials optimizing gut fermentation in herbivore animals
| Field | Animal Nutrition, Microbial Ecology, Microbial Phygiology, Microbial Genomics, Microbiome |
| Keyword | ruminant, herbivore, monogastoric animal, wildlife, feed, unused resource, feed additive, probiotics, prebiotics, rumen, fiber degradation, digestion, fermentation, microbe, intestinal bacteria, microbiome, next generation sequencing, metagenomics, bioinformatics |
Introduction
My research target is microbes related to fiber degradation/fermentation in the gastrointestinal tract of herbivore animals including ruminants. Herbivore animals, such as cattle, grow by eating grass, but actually animals themselves are not capable of digesting grass. In their gut there are 1 to 10 billions of microorganisms, and they degrade and ferment plant fibrous materials and convert it into nutrients. When these microorganisms function normally, digestion of plant fibers and absorption of nutrients are smoothly carried out, but when the microbial balance gets lost, metabolic disorder can happen. So, my research goal is to answer the following questions; in the herbivore gut microbial fermentation, 1) what is the optimum balance, 2) what is the factor which disorders it, and 3) what is the way to optimise it.
In my research, samples are taken from both of in vitro and in vivo experiments, and microorganisms are detected using molecular biological methods. Our recent approach is detecting “microbiome”, which is an assembly of microorganisms, and we perform comprehensive analysis using next generation sequencing technology. Using such various approaches, we have been trying to identify the microorganisms which are important for fiber digestion or related to metabolic disorders and evaluate the effect of feed supplements and functional feed materials.
List of current research topics
- Elucidation of fiber degrading system in herbivore gastrointestinal tract
- Determination of microbial species related to metabolic disorders in herbivore animals
- Exploration of functional feed materials optimizing gut fermentation
| Academic degree | Ph.D. in Agriculture |
| Self introduction |
I am Naoki, from Hiroshima. My research target is microbes living in the gastrointestinal tract of herbivore animals. I like playing the clarinet, taking photographs, and drinking whisky. |
| Room address | General Research Building 1 |
| Room number | S3103-1 |
| Mail address | n.fukumax 
obihiro.ac.jp |
Belongs
Research Center for Global Agromedicine/Department Chief of Agriculture and Animal ScienceResearch Department/Department of Life and Food Sciences/Division of Animal Production/Section of Animal Husbandry| Affiliated academic society | Japanese Society for Rumen Metabolism and Physiology, Japanese Society of Animal Science |
| Academic background | 2009 B.S. Hokkaido University 2011 M.S. Hokkaido University 2015 Ph.D. Hokkaido University 2015-2016 Researcher, Hokkaido University 2015-2016 Visiting Academic, University of Queensland Diamantina Institute 2016 Research fellow, University of Queensland Diamantina Institute 2016.10 - present |
