Variation in koala microbiomes within and between individuals: effect of body region and captivity status

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2015-05, Vol.5 (1), p.10189-10189, Article 10189
Main Authors: Alfano, Niccoló, Courtiol, Alexandre, Vielgrader, Hanna, Timms, Peter, Roca, Alfred L., Greenwood, Alex D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Animals
Bacteria - genetics
Captivity
Chlamydia
Diet
Eye
Eye - microbiology
Feces - microbiology
Gastrointestinal Microbiome
Genetic Variation
Humanities and Social Sciences
Intestinal microflora
Lignin
Male
Mammals
Microbial activity
Microbiota - genetics
Mouth - microbiology
multidisciplinary
Organ Specificity
Phascolarctidae - microbiology
Phylogeny
Principal Component Analysis
Rectum
Rectum - microbiology
rRNA 16S
Science
Sexually transmitted diseases
STD
Taxonomy
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Summary: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.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep10189