{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,6]],"date-time":"2026-09-06T05:15:49Z","timestamp":1788671749783,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788480000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Key R&D and Transformation Projects of the Xizang Autonomous Region","award":["XZ202601ZY0138"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["XZ202601ZY0138"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["32102692"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32102692"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["32102692"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32102692"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Vet. Sci.","Veterinary Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Yaks (Bos grunniens) are important livestock on the Qinghai\u2013Tibetan Plateau, but the relationship between Blastocystis positivity, fecal bacterial communities, and microbial metabolites remains unclear. This cross-sectional study compared fecal bacterial profiles and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations in six Blastocystis-positive and six Blastocystis-negative diarrheic yaks from Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Bacterial communities were characterized by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, and fecal SCFAs were quantified by gas chromatography\u2013mass spectrometry. Compared with negative yaks, positive yaks had lower concentrations of acetic acid (p &lt; 0.01), propionic acid (p &lt; 0.01), butyric acid (p = 0.000381), valeric acid (p &lt; 0.01), caproic acid (p = 0.00359), and isobutyric acid (p &lt; 0.01), whereas isovaleric acid did not differ between groups (p = 0.310). A total of 2,751,028 raw sequences were generated, of which 2,620,949 passed quality filtering. ACE (p = 0.0068), Chao1 (p = 0.0071), Faith\u2019s phylogenetic diversity (p = 0.0019), observed ASVs (p = 0.0064), Pielou\u2019s evenness (p = 0.011), Shannon diversity (p = 0.008), and Simpson diversity (p = 0.037) were lower in positive yaks. The groups also differed in bacterial community composition, and several taxa previously associated with fiber degradation or SCFA formation had lower relative abundances in positive yaks. PICRUSt2 indicated differences in predicted microbial functional potential. These findings indicate that Blastocystis positivity was associated with altered fecal bacterial communities and reduced concentrations of several SCFAs in diarrheic yaks. Because of the small sample size, cross-sectional design, and potential confounding by diarrhea and other unmeasured factors, causal relationships cannot be established.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/vetsci13090910","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T17:25:56Z","timestamp":1788542756000},"page":"910","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Blastocystis spp. Positivity Is Associated with Altered Fecal Bacterial Communities and Reduced Short-Chain Fatty Acid Concentrations in Diarrheic Yaks"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Qiang","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Agriculture, Rural Affairs, Water Resources and Science & Technology Bureau of Lixian County, Aba Autonomous Prefecture 623100, China"},{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ziye","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ziyi","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China"},{"name":"School of Basic Medicine, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 712000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3720-2090","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Muhammad","family":"Safdar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Breeding & Genetics, Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan"},{"name":"Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, 70013 Heraklion, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Wentong","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Basic Medicine, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 712000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2026-9969","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kun","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, X., Pei, J., Xiong, L., Bao, P., Chu, M., Ma, X., La, Y., Liang, C., Yan, P., and Guo, X. 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