Xiaolei Ma, Lucia Lazarowski, Yue Zhang, Sarah Krichbaum, Jordan G Smith, Jingyi Zheng, Wenqi Cao, Pamela S Haney, Robyn R Wilborn, Stuart B Price, Melissa Singletary, Paul Waggoner, Xu Wang
Memory has been identified as the least heritable cognitive trait in canines, suggesting a significant influence of non-genetic factors. We observed a trend that overall memory scores (OMS) improve with age in a cohort of 27 young dogs, but considerable plasticity exists. Employing linear discriminant analysis of gut microbiome data from dogs exhibiting low and high OMS, a single bacterial species, Bifidobacterium pseudolongum , was identified and confirmed to be correlated with elevated OMS. Subsequent analysis using a random forest regression model revealed that sex, litter, and breed identity had minimal predictive importance...
May 17, 2024: IScience