engleski

Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) and their microbes: characterizing oral and cloacal microbial communities

Microbial communities of wild animals are being increasingly investigated as they can provide data for understanding host’s biology and promote conservation. Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) are a keystone species in marine ecosystems and are considered vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, which led to growing efforts in sea turtle conservation by rescue centers around the world. Here we describe oral and cloacal microbiome of Mediterranean C. caretta by 16S rRNA gene sequencing to compare the microbial communities of wild subjects versus turtles in, or after, rehabilitation in the Adriatic Sea rescue centers and clinics. Our results show that the oral microbiome is more susceptible to the environmental shifts than the cloacal microbiome, and that it does retain a portion of the microbial taxa regardless of the shift from the wild and into rehabilitation. Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes dominated both oral and cloacal microbial communities, while the novel Kiritimatiellaeota phylum was prevalent in cloacal samples. Unclassified reads were abundant, which indicates high incidence of yet undiscovered bacteria of the marine reptile microbiomes. We provide the first insights into the oral microbial communities of wild and rehabilitated loggerhead sea turtles, and establish the framework for quick and non-invasive sampling of the oral and cloacal microbiome, useful for expansion of the sample collection in wild loggerhead sea turtles. This investigation on the effects of captive environment on the gut-associated microbial community provides a baseline for studying the impact of husbandry conditions on turtles’ health and how it can potentially affect loggerheads’ survival upon return into the wild.

microbiota, bacterial diversity, reptile, rehabilitation, conservation

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