Hemin Zhang

Hemin Zhang

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329
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Publications

Publications (329)
Article
The giant panda, a strict herbivore that feeds on bamboo, still retains a typical carnivorous digestive system. Reference catalogs of microbial genes and genomes are lacking, largely limiting the antibiotic resistome and functional exploration of the giant panda gut microbiome. Here, we integrated 177 fecal metagenomes of captive and wild giant pan...
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Background Energy homeostasis is essential for the adaptation of animals to their environment and some wild animals keep low metabolism adaptive to their low-nutrient dietary supply. Giant panda is such a typical low-metabolic mammal exhibiting species specialization of extremely low daily energy expenditure. It has low levels of basal metabolic ra...
Article
The gastrointestinal microbiome (GM) of giant panda (GP) plays an important role in food utilization and health and is also an essential reservoir of resistance genes. Currently, little knowledge is available on the GM, acid resistance genes (AcRGs), antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), metal resistance genes (MRGs), and mobile genetic elements (MGE...
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Infant call structure should have evolved to elicit maximum maternal attention and investment. Neonates of giant pandas produce three types of vocalizations reported to be vitally important in the context of mother-infant communications. However, how cubs, 0-15 days old, communicate with their mothers to elicit maternal care remains unknown. We ana...
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The role that visual discriminative ability plays among giant pandas in social communication and individual discrimination has received less attention than olfactory and auditory modalities. Here, we used an eye-tracker technology to investigate pupil fixation patterns for eight captive male giant pandas Ailuropoda melanoleuca. We paired images (N...
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This study explored the internal driving factors for the effects of livestock grazing on wild giant pandas, their habitats, and staple bamboo resources, in order to provide a basis for the construction and management of the Giant Panda National Park. Based on the survey data of random sample fields of wild giant pandas and grazing livestock in the...
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This paper takes 15 giant panda cubs undergoing pre-release training, including female animals with cubs,monitored from 2010 to 2020 as the research object. Based on the behavior data observed and interpreted by infrared video monitoring system and audio collar, and the fecal sample data collected by GPS collar tracking and ositioning, this paper a...
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As an assisted breeding technique, artificial insemination has become the main effective practical approach in the captive breeding programs of giant panda worldwide. The composition of seminal plasma plays an important role in the success of breeding. The present work is the first attempt to characterize, by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy...
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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2020/3852586.].
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Giant pandas feed almost exclusively on bamboo but miss lignocellulose-degrading genes. Their gut microbiome may contribute to their nutrition; however, the limited access to pandas makes experimentation difficult. In vitro incubation of dung samples is used to infer gut microbiome activity. In pandas, such tests indicated that green leaves are lar...
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Background Escherichia coli , Enterobacter spp., Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterococcus spp., common gut bacteria in giant pandas, include opportunistic pathogens. The giant panda is an endangered species, classified as vulnerable by the World Wildlife Foundation. Continuous monitoring for the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among bacte...
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Artificial insemination (AI) is a valuable tool for conservation breeding programs as it can promote reproductive success and genetic diversity in species with decreasing populations. However, females that undergo AI do not experience natural mating events, which we term, “nescient mating.” Thus, these females would not be able to assess the qualit...
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This study analyzed the characteristics of the bamboo grazing behaviors (food selection, resource intake rate) of wild giant pandas and livestock in Wolong National Nature Reserve to reveal the ecological mechanism of the impact of grazing livestock on giant panda bamboo resources and habitats. The study was analyzed using data from line transect s...
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It is widely believed that various animal species can sense and respond to the geophysical stimuli that precede earthquakes, especially electromagnetic fields, although supporting field evidence is mostly anecdotal. Here we report on the reactions of four female giant pandas under observation over the three days prior to the Lushan (30.1°N, 103.0°E...
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The relationships between habitat amount and fragmentation level and functional connectivity and inbreeding remain unclear. Thus, we used genetic algorithms to optimize the transformation of habitat area and fragmentation variables into resistance surfaces to predict genetic structure and examined habitat area and fragmentation effects on inbreedin...
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Raising the survival rate of captive-bred pandas is a basis for the sustainable development of captive populations and reintroduction research. In order to explore the factors influencing the viability of captive-bred pandas, the survival rate and mortality of captive-bred pandas of different years and ages (months, age-groups) were analyzed, and t...
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The giant panda (GP) is the most precious animal in China. Gastrointestinal tract disease, especially associated with dysbiosis of gut microbiota, is the leading cause of death in GPs. Here, we performed 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing to investigate the gut microbiota of GPs having symptoms of anorexia. Results showed that gut microbiota of GP...
Article
The pharmacokinetics of levofloxacin mesylate in healthy adult giant panda is unknown. In this study, the pharmacokinetics of levofloxacin after intramuscular administration at a dose of 2 mg/kg and oral administration at a dose of 3 mg/kg in healthy adult giant pandas was determined. Levofloxacin concentrations in plasma were determined using liqu...
Article
Gut microbiota (GM) are important for the health of giant pandas (GP), in addition to the utilization of bamboo in their diets. However, it is not fully understood how diet, habitat environment and lifestyle contribute to the composition of GM in GP. Consequently, we evaluated how dietary changes, habitat environment conversions and lifestyle shift...
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Little is comprehensively known or understood about giant panda fecal and serum metabolites, which could serve as important indicators of the physiological metabolism of giant pandas. Therefore, we determined the contents of fecal and serum metabolites of giant pandas based on an untargeted metabolome. Four hundred and 955 metabolites were detected...
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Background The gut microbiome is essential for the host’s health and serves as an essential reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). We investigated the effects of different factors, including the dietary shifts and age, on the functional characteristics of the giant panda’s gut microbiome (GPs) through shotgun metagenome sequencing. We exp...
Article
microRNA (miRNA) is a small endogenous noncoding RNA molecule that plays multiple roles in regulating most biological processes. However, for China’s national treasure giant panda, a world-famous rare and protected species, reports of its miRNA have been found only in blood and breast milk. To explore the miRNA expression differences between differ...
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Adaptation to a bamboo diet is an essential process for giant panda growth, and gut microbes play an important role in the digestion of the polysaccharides in bamboo. The dietary transition in giant panda cubs is particularly complex, but it is an ideal period in which to study the effects of gut microbes on polysaccharide use because their main fo...
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Gene differential expression studies can serve to explore and understand the laws and characteristics of animal life activities, and the difference in gene expression between different animal tissues has been well demonstrated and studied. However, for the world-famous rare and protected species giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), only the transc...
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Synergies and tradeoffs among the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within specific locations have been widely studied. However, there is little understanding of SDG synergies and tradeoffs across spatial/administrative boundaries although the world is increasingly interconnected and the United Nations aims to achieve SDGs everywh...
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Environment, diet, and host phylogeny are the main factors that shape the gut microbiota of humans and animals. Gut microbial communities of captive animals are often drastically altered by disease or anthropogenic activities. These changes in the microbial community profoundly influence animal fitness. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) offers...
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Haemaphysalis longicornis (Ixodida: Ixodidae) is a common blood-feeding ectoparasite of the giant panda and poses significant health burden to wild and captive populations. In the present study, the complete mitogenome of the giant panda tick H. longicornis was sequenced using Illumina sequencing technology. The entire mitogenome was 14,706 bp in l...
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Understanding habitat selection is important for effective habitat management and recovery of species. However, many habitat selection studies are based on presence and absence data and do not differentiate the intensity of use and its association with fine-scale habitat characteristics. Such information is critical for improving our understanding...
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Breeding and welfare problems confront many conservation breeding programs. Stereotypies—repetitive, unvarying, functionless behaviours —are common abnormal behaviours that often arise in suboptimal conditions. While the role of stereotypies in welfare assessment is well studied, few investigations address the relationship between stereotypic behav...
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We examined the response of woody plants to internal forest disturbance during subalpine succession and its underlying driving mechanism by comparing changes in woody plant diversity of Abies-Tsuga forests after the flowering and die-back of arrow bamboo (Bashania faberi). We calculated species diversity indices (a-diversity and β-diversity) for th...
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Although several mammals impregnate their fur with environmental odors, a phenomenon termed scent anointing or rubbing, the functional relevance of this behavior often is unclear. One theory is that scent anointing could be a form of scent matching with environmental odors to signal competitiveness and home range occupation. In this study we presen...
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To investigate the relationship between the bamboo including its nutrients and microbiome, and gut microbiome of giant panda, different bamboo species were provided for feeding the giant pandas. Nutrients of bamboo were examined, and the bamboo microbiome and gut microbiome of giant panda were investigated using high throughput sequencing. The resu...
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The gut microbiota diversity of eight panda cubs was assessed during a dietary switch.Gut microbiota diversity of panda cubs significantly decreased after bamboo consumption.Carnivorous species living on a plant-based diet possess low microbial diversity.Mice were fed a bamboo diet but did not display low gut microbiota diversity. Giant pandas hav...
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The giant panda is known worldwide for having successfully moved to a diet almost exclusively based on bamboo. Provided that no lignocellulose-degrading enzyme was detected in panda’s genome, bamboo digestion is believed to depend on its gut microbiome. However, pandas retain the digestive system of a carnivore, with retention times of maximum 12 h...
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The tick Haemaphysalis flava (Acari, Ixodidae) is an obligatory blood-feeding ectoparasite of the giant panda and is also a vector for transmission of pathogenic microorganisms. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of this tick was sequenced through Illumina sequencing technology. The genome was 14,699 bp in length and encoded 37 genes...
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The blood-sucking tick Haemaphysalis hystricis is a common ectoparasite of the giant panda and represents a significant threat to both wild and captive populations. Herein, the complete mitogenome of H. hystricis was sequenced using Illumina sequencing technology. The complete mitogenome sequence was 14,715 bp in size and encoded 37 genes including...
Article
Differences in the concentration of metabolites in the biofluids of animals closely reflect their physiological diversities. In order to set the basis for a metabolomic atlas for giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), we characterized the metabolome of healthy giant panda feces (23), urine (16), serum (6) and saliva (4) samples by means of 1H-NMR. A...
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Abstract Reintroduction is a key approach in the conservation of endangered species. In recent decades, many reintroduction projects have been conducted for conservation purposes, but the rate of success has been low. Given the important role of gut microbiota in health and diseases, we questioned whether gut microbiota would play a crucial role in...
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Documenting the different social and behavioural contexts that vocalisations are produced in remains an important step towards understanding the functional relevance of specific call types in a given species’ vocal repertoire. In this study we investigated whether seasonal differences and the presence or absence of male and female conspecifics infl...
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Captive breeding has been used as an effective approach to protecting endangered animals but its effect on the gut microbiome and the conservation status of these species is largely unknown. The giant panda is a flagship species for the conservation of wildlife. With integrated efforts including captive breeding, this species has been recently upgr...
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Female giant pandas show complex reproductive traits, being seasonally monoestrus, displaying a variable length embryonic diapause and exhibiting pseudopregnancy. Currently, there is no confirmatory non-invasive biomarker of blastocyst implantation or pregnancy. This study aimed to monitor urinary estrogens across gestation in pregnancy (n = 4), ps...
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The giant panda (GP) was the most endangered species in China, and gut microbiota plays a vital role in host health. To determine the differences of the gut microbiota among the male, female and pregnant GPs, a comparative analysis of gut microbiota in GPs was carried out by 16S rRNA and ITS high-throughput sequencing. In 16S rRNA sequencing, 435 O...
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For translocated animals, behavioral competence may be key to post-release survival. However, monitoring behavior is typically limited to tracking movements or inferring behavior at a gross scale via collar-mounted sensors. Animal-bourne acoustic monitoring may provide a unique opportunity to monitor behavior at a finer scale. The giant panda is an...
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The giant panda is an example of a species that has faced extensive historical habitat fragmentation, and anthropogenic disturbance and is assumed to be isolated in numerous subpopulations with limited gene flow between them. To investigate the population size, health, and connectivity of pandas in a key habitat area, we noninvasively collected a t...
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The giant pandas’ (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) reproductive strategy is unique among mammals. Yet there are characteristics of giant panda behaviour we do not fully understand. Probably one of the least understood is the assumption that in captivity virtually all giant panda females rear only one cub when twins are born and abandon the other if given t...
Data
Time budgets. Daily time budgets of all analysed behaviours, and animals. (XLSX)
Data
Social distance. Daily percentages of social contact categories between the mother and the twin giant panda cubs born 2016 in the Vienna Zoo. (XLSX)
Data
Suckling duration and frequency. Daily duration and frequency of lactation of the twin giant panda cubs born 2016 in the Vienna Zoo. (XLSX)
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Exposure. Daily percentages of exposure categories of all four analyzed cubs are presented. (XLSX)
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Maternal behaviour. Daily percentage of repositioning or picking up twin cubs by the female. (XLSX)
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Surprisingly little is known about how mammal vocal signals are used to achieve behavioural synchrony in the lead up to copulation. The ability to signal short-term fluctuations in arousal levels and behavioural intention is likely to be particularly important for synchronizing mating behaviour in asocial species, which must overcome their natural...
Article
The giant panda, native to mountains of south-west China, is one of the world's rarest bear species and is subject to considerable conservation effort. In captivity, the proportion of twins accounts for 54% of the total number of births. To date, little is known about zygosity in panda populations — specifically, the proportion of monozygotic and d...
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Background: Ovarian cancer is diagnosed clinically by detecting ovarian cancer-related factors and markers. Here, we report a case of giant panda ovarian tumor metastasis with a combination of clinical and histopathological diagnosis. Case presentation: Histopathological studies revealed severe lesions and tumor cells in the ovaries, lungs, sple...
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To explore the effects of the mutations of ATP6 and ATP8 genes on energy metabolism and genetic structure, we sequenced the ATP6 and ATP8 genes of Ailuropoda melanoleuca. Our results showed that ATP8 is a conserved gene and ATP6 gene is positively selected during the evolution of the giant panda population with a low genetic diversity. Population e...
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Although mammal vocalisations signal attributes about the caller that are important in a range of contexts, relatively few studies have investigated the transmission of specific types of information encoded in mammal calls. In this study we broadcast and re-recorded giant panda bleats in a bamboo plantation, to assess the stability of individuality...
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To obtain full details of gut microbiota, including bacteria, fungi, bacteriophages, and helminths, in giant pandas (GPs), we created a comprehensive microbial genome database and used metagenomic sequences to align against the database. We delineated a detailed and different gut microbiota structures of GPs. A total of 680 species of bacteria, 198...