Where do rumen bacteria come from?

Submitted by ryum1503 t3_11zokze in askscience

Cows have compartmentalized stomachs and microorganisms in the organ to help digest the cellulose from the plants consumed. But where do these bacteria/fungi/protozoa come from? How are they introduced to the cow? Are the microorganisms present from birth? Are they found in the environment and coincidentally well adapted into the mammal's stomach?

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h3rbi74 t1_jdeqa5e wrote

Calves become exposed to their mother’s gut flora during birth and while nursing in the first few days after birth. One source:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0220554

Then the population will gradually adapt as the baby moves from milk to grazing, but rumens aren’t unique— this process happens (and must happen!) in every animal. We all have massive intricate communities of micro-organisms inside us and all over us! And they’re usually easily acquired from our environment and our families, because the world isn’t sterile. And they all undergo adaptation and adjustment if we change our diet or other variables in our living situation.

Try a search for the keyword “microbiome” to go down a rabbit-hole of information in whichever species you are interested in!

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kazarnowicz t1_jdev4a9 wrote

It's a most fascinating topic. The relationship between us and our gut bacteria affects mood, personality, health … the so far single most fascinating fact about the gut biome is that we've learned that the vagus nerve carries an overwhelming amount of information to the brain, rather than from the brain down.

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[deleted] t1_jdfanwk wrote

[removed]

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catscanmeow t1_jdfjfie wrote

yep, also a lot of serotonin is created in the gut so having proper gut health should help

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KarmaScope t1_jdgg0px wrote

"I contain multitudes" by Ed Yong is also a great book on the subject. It does get pretty heavy but summarizes the big picture of our evolution with microbes. He often compares the microbiome to a new frontier.

Here's a good synopsis of the book https://www.theguardian.com/science/occams-corner/2016/aug/25/lifes-little-surprises-i-contain-multitudes-ed-yong

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Practice_NO_with_me t1_jdghux7 wrote

Ooooh thank you! I've been getting really interested in the human gut biome and how it effects mood, metal and physical health and even intelligence. I will definitely be checking this out! Would this be better read or could one listen to the audiobook at work, in your opinion?

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KarmaScope t1_je226jr wrote

I did the audiobook. There is quite a bit of science jargon in a lot of places, so sometimes I missed out on absorbing that well by not seeing the letters. But I am a visual learner mostly anyway for that type of stuff. But I got the big picture and it was very fascinating. Was my morning commute audiobook for a few weeks.

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Clydosphere t1_jdgvx1l wrote

A good friend of mine often says jocularly, "I am in the majority!" Maybe I should give him that book for his next birthday? :)

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Fredlyinthwe t1_jdfspyh wrote

Now you'll think twice about eating that preservative riddled tv dinner.

Thats also why you get the shits after taking antibiotics

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dragracesssss t1_jdfadc9 wrote

They get it as they exit the birth canal and from suckling the mom's Teats during feeding. Some of it survives the stomach initially and then the good bacteria spread through the rest of the GI tract.

it also works the same way in humans, and there's a theory that giving our children beneficial bacteria is why we just wanna kiss them up so much.

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SabreToothSandHopper t1_jdgshcw wrote

I never understood the birth canal thing

a) why are stomach bacteria smeared all inside the cows vagina?

b) how does birth canal bacteria get inside the calf’s 4 stomachs? Does the calf sort of smear it’s mouth on everything while being born then lick it’s lips once it’s out?

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Player-X t1_jdhahkm wrote

Bacteria gets everywhere that it can survive so it's not unreasonable that some will end up in the cow vagina, and birth is messy so it'll also end up in the calf on its way out

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Nvenom8 t1_jdj61ci wrote

Think about the proximity between the anus and vagina and their relative arrangement on a cow.

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tjeulink t1_jdgqesv wrote

the same way as in humans, they ingest some of the mothers excrement, both vaginal and anal, during birth. they've started transferring excrement from the mother to the baby during cesarean births in some hospitals because it improves the gut health of the newborn significantly.

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Cinnamongoil t1_jdh478r wrote

what … source?! I never heard of this and I work in medical care.

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jatjqtjat t1_jdh58y5 wrote

Yea, its not true. It would mean if a round of antibiotics killed these bacteria off, getting them back would be... unpleasant.

Bacteria that eats cellulose is going to be found on the cellulose that the cow is eating.

The birth canal might give the calf head start. But it's not the only way.

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tjeulink t1_jdhbcwb wrote

There's evidence that that is the role of the apendix, it functions as a refuge for healthy gut bacteria, even during antibiotic treatments.

And don't spread misinformation.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/fecal-transfer-from-moms-to-babies-after-c-section-trial-results-68012

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190918131447.htm

>Scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, UCL, the University of Birmingham and their collaborators discovered that whereas vaginally born babies got most of their gut bacteria from their mother, babies born via caesarean did not, and instead had more bacteria associated with hospital environments in their guts.

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