Journal article
Variation in koala microbiomes within and between individuals: effect of body region and captivity status
Scientific Reports, Vol.5(10189), pp.1-12
2015
Abstract
Metagenomic analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA has been used to profile microbial communities at high resolution, and to examine their association with host diet or diseases. We examined the oral and gut microbiome composition of two captive koalas to determine whether bacterial communities are unusual in this species, given that their diet consists almost exclusively of Eucalyptus leaves. Despite a highly specialized diet, koala oral and gut microbiomes were similar in composition to the microbiomes from the same body regions of other mammals. Rectal swabs contained all of the diversity present in faecal samples, along with additional taxa, suggesting that faecal bacterial communities may merely subsample the gut bacterial diversity. Furthermore, the faecal microbiomes of the captive koalas were similar to those reported for wild koalas, suggesting that captivity may not compromise koala microbial health. Since koalas frequently suffer from ocular diseases caused by Chlamydia infection, we also examined the eye microbiome composition of two captive koalas, establishing the healthy baseline for this body part. The eye microbial community was very diverse, similar to other mammalian ocular microbiomes but with an unusually high representation of bacteria from the family Phyllobacteriaceae.
Details
- Title
- Variation in koala microbiomes within and between individuals: effect of body region and captivity status
- Authors
- Niccolo Alfano (Author) - Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, GermanyAlexandre Courtiol (Author) - Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, GermanyHanna Vielgrader (Author) - Tiergarten Schonbrunn, AustriaPeter Timms (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and EngineeringAlfred L Roca (Author) - University of Illinois, United StatesAlex D Greenwood (Author) - Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Germany
- Publication details
- Scientific Reports, Vol.5(10189), pp.1-12
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date published
- 2015
- DOI
- 10.1038/srep10189
- ISSN
- 2045-2322
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2015 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; GeneCology Research Centre - Legacy; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450183702621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
82 File views/ downloads
691 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Microbiology
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites