Comparative analysis of the composition and function of fecal ‐gut bacteria in captive juvenile Crocodylus siamensis between healthy and anorexic individuals

In this study, we demonstrate for the first time, the diversity of intestinal bacterial communities in captive juvenileCrocodylus siamensis suffering from anorexia and healthy crocodile controls using deep amplicon sequencing. Our findings provide a reference to enrich the field of gut microorganism studies in crocodilians and suggest that alterations in the composition and function of gut bacteria inC.  siamensis may be associated with anorexia in crocodilians AbstractThe Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) is a freshwater, endangered crocodile with high economic value in the farming industry. Gut microflora plays an essential role in host physiological activity, and it contributes significantly to both the health and diseased states of animals. However, thus far, no study has focused on the correlation between diseases and intestinal bacterial communities in crocodilians. Here, we first compared the composition and function of gut microbial communities in captive juvenileC.  siamensis suffering from anorexia and healthy crocodile controls using deep amplicon sequencing. The gut microbial diversity of anorexic crocodiles was much lower than the healthy individuals. Obvious changes in gut microbial composition were observed between sick and healthy crocodiles, except forCetobacterium  somerae of phylum Fusobacteria. In particular, the abundance ofBacteroides luti,Clostridium disporicum,Plesiomonas shigelloides, andOdoribacter sp. in the gut flora of healthy crocodiles...

Source: MicrobiologyOpen - September 3, 2019 Category: Microbiology Authors: Mao Lin, Chenxi Zeng, Zhongqin Li, Ying Ma, Xueqing Jia Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research