hrvatski

Loggerhead sea turtle microbiome – TURTLEBIOME project: insight into endozoic and epizoic communities

The animal/plant associated microbiota play a key role in the survival and fitness of their hosts. The microbial communities associated with the host’s body, both on the external surfaces and inside the guts, support their host's immune system and provide protection from pathogens. Although sea turtles have been studied by marine biologists over the last decades and even centuries, many aspects of their biology and ecology remain poorly understood. In spite of the presumed importance and essential role of micro-symbionts in their host’s physiology and wellbeing, there are major knowledge gaps on the sea turtle associated microbiota. Very little is known about microbes inhabiting the sea turtle intestines, whereas, to our knowledge, no reports exist on the sea turtle epibiotic bacteria. Novel findings show that sea turtles harbor unique and abundant communities of microscopic algae called diatoms. Sea turtle- associated diatoms colonize the surface of tissues, both skin and carapace and new taxa have been described worldwide from all sea turtle species. Recently, we launched the "TurtleBIOME project", a study that would allow us to obtain the very first complete description of sea turtle microbial biodiversity. “TurtleBIOME project” is the Installation Grant Research project funded by Croatian Science Fund that will operate over a 5-year period, from 2018 – 2023. A detailed investigation of microbial composition of the surface biofilm and the gut microbiome of Mediterranean population of loggerhead sea turtles will be performed using a combination of the culture-independent molecular characterization of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms, a classical approach of microbial cultivation, and morphological observations of the biofilm. Our research team is a group of scientists with extensive experience in various subjects, including turtle biology, diatom taxonomy and microbial ecology. We believe, the proposed study will provide baseline information on the loggerhead microbiome that can then be integrated with the existing knowledge on sea turtle biology, eco- physiology, and behavior. Furthermore, our research may open many new avenues for future investigations focused on co-evolution and biogeography of microbial epi- and endo-bionts and their hosts, as well as the capacity of the sea turtle-associated microbes to function as bioindicators of their host’s behavior and health.

mikrobiom ; projekt ; morski kralješnjaci ; morske kornjače

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