Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine

「動物の健康、栄養、生産」と「消化管内微生物」との関連をベースとした研究テーマ

2018年度の卒業研究テーマ

• DFAIIIの代用乳への添加が子牛の増体および下部消化管内微生物叢に及ぼす影響
• 集積培養におけるpHの違いがルーメン内乳酸利用性細菌群の増殖および構成に及ぼす影響
• ソバ殻抽出物の添加がin vitroルーメン発酵に及ぼす影響
• 重種馬の下部消化管内発酵に寄与する主要細菌群の特定

研究室では動物個体を扱うこともありますが、微生物やそのDNAを対象とした実験やコンピュータでの核酸塩基配列の解析など、細かな操作が多くなると思います。初めは戸惑うこともあるかもしれませんが、徐々に慣れていけるように指導します。現段階での知識や能力は全く問いません。向上心と知的欲求に溢れた学生を歓迎します。

研究テーマは出来る限り学生のみなさんの興味に沿ったものを一緒に考えますが、そのためには沢山の準備が必要です。もし「こんな研究をしてみたい」「こんなことはできないか」というアイデアがあれば、ぜひ気軽に話をしに来てください。

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.

• 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