It was concluded that bacterial concentrations and species in the colon were not reliably predictive

of the bacterial concentrations or species in the rumen [24]. The rumen contained an average of 1.66 × 1012 copies of 16S rRNA/g (± 7.27 × 1011 SEM). This is comparable to other ruminants: 5.17 × 1011 cells/g (± 3.49 × 1011) for Norwegian reindeer [25], 1.86 × 1011 cells/g (± 9.68 × 1010) and 5.38 x 1011 cells/g (± 2.62 x 1011) for Svalbard reindeer [26] in April and October, respectively, and 1.60 × 1011 cells/g (± 1.35 x 1011) for Canadian dairy cattle [27]. The dominant phylum in the moose rumen was Firmicutes with 192 OTUs, followed by Proteobacteria with 142 OTUs and PND-1186 supplier Bacteroidetes with 66 OTUs. Firmicutes is often the dominant phylum in gut microbiomes,

and many of those found in the moose were of the class Clostridia, containing sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), which can be pathogenic, endospore forming, and found in soil. Sundset et al. [28] reported that PKC inhibitor in rumen samples taken from reindeer in Svalbard, the bacteria cultivated were mainly from the class Clostridia. It was noted that Fibrobacter succinogenes, Ruminococcus albus, and R. flavefaciens were not found in the rumen of the reindeer [28], although this may simply be a bias of the cultivation approach. Fibrobacter and Ruminococcus are both cellulolytic and have previously been found in the rumen of reindeer [25, 29]. However, in the present study, F. succinogenes and R. albus were not found, despite both species being present on the chip with multiple strains. Ruminococcus flavefaciens was detected in several samples, but only a few of its 11 probes matched, making the result insignificant. Ruminococcus obeum was detected in the present study. In a recent paper studying rumen bacteria in dairy cattle,

Firmicutes was the dominant phylum in four cattle rumen samples when using full length 16S rRNA clone libraries, but was only dominant in three samples with Proteobacteria being dominant in one sample when using partial 16S rRNA clone libraries or environmental gene tags [30]. Gamma- and alpha-Proteobacteria have been medroxyprogesterone shown to be type I and type II methanotrophs, respectively, meaning they utilize methane as their source of carbon. In the present study, the species Enterobacter cloacae, of the class gamma-Proteobacteria, was found in the moose, and in a non-lactating Holstein cow based on PCR of the 16S rRNA gene to target methanotrophs [31]. In a comparison between the moose rumen data and a study using the PhyloChip and samples from the crop of the wild folivorous bird, the hoatzin [21], similarities arise. Godoy-Vitorino et al. [17] showed that bacteria from the crop of the hoatzin clustered into distinct groups by age: chicks (n = 3), juveniles (n = 3) and adults (n = 3).