Fecal Microbiota of the Bobcat (Lynx rufus) in a Temperate Forest of Central Mexico

Carnivores harbor gut microbial communities adapted to protein and fat-rich diets. These microbial communities play an important role in amino acid degradation and bile acid metabolism. The bobcat (Lynx rufus) spans diverse North America habitats, yet its gut microbiota across regions remains under characterized. Here, we characterized the fecal microbiota of bobcats from a high-elevation temperate forest in central Mexico (Chichinautzin Biological Corridor) using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing (V3–V4 region). Comparisons with previously published studies were used only to place our findings in the context of the available literature. In total, 632 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were recovered from 10 samples. A total of 35 bacterial families and 58 genera were identified. The most abundant genera included Clostridium, Fusobacterium, Bacteroides, and Phocaeicola. Several samples were dominated by genera such as Pseudomonas, Blautia, Ammoniphilus, Alloprevotella, and Hafnia, indicating marked among-sample variability. Functional prediction suggested that pathways related to ABC transporters, purine and pyrimidine metabolism, ribosomal functions, two-component systems, amino acid metabolism, and central carbon metabolism were among the most represented inferred functional categories. These predictions should be regarded as exploratory and hypothesis-generating, providing an overview of the potential metabolic capabilities of the fecal microbiota inferred from 16S rRNA gene data.