Naslov
Microbiota of Mediterranean loggerhead sea turtles: new insights into bacterial, fungal and microalgal assemblages
(Microbiota of Mediterranean loggerhead sea turtles: new insights into bacterial, fungal and microalgal assemblages)

Autori
Bosak, Sunčica ; Filek, Klara ; Kanjer, Lucija ; Žižek, Marta ; Gračan, Romana ; Mucko, Maja ; Trotta, Adriana ; Di Bello, Antonio ; Corrente, Marialaura ; Panagopoulou, Aliki ; Ashworth, Matt ; Frankovich, Thomas ; Van de Vijver, Bart ; Majewska, Roksana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
7th Croatian Congress of Microbiology Book of Abstracts / Sviličić Petrić, Ines ; Leboš Pavunc, Andreja ; Šantić, Marina ; Kifer, Domagoj - Zagreb : Hrvatsko mikrobiološko društvo, 2022, 45-46

ISBN
978-953-7778-18-7

Skup
7th Croatian Congress of Microbiology

Mjesto i datum
Sveti Martin na Muri, Hrvatska, 24.05.2022. - 27.05.2022

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
microbiome ; epizoic ; Caretta caretta ; diatoms ; bacteria ; fungi

Sažetak
Aquatic animals harbour numerous and diverse microbes on the surfaces of their different body parts, known as animal-associated microbiota, that play a vital role in the survival and fitness of their host. Turtles are famously known for their shells, often covered with various macroepibionts and colourful biofilms built by microbes. Some of these epibionts require the animal substrate to live and develop. They are thus exclusively epizoic and depend entirely on their hosts. But carapaces are not the only body parts of sea turtles to provide excellent habitat for specialized and opportunistic microbes. The loggerhead sea turtle is the most common species of sea turtle in the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, many aspects of its biology and ecology remain poorly investigated, whereas human activities increasingly threaten its existence. In recent years, the main focus of our research group was to characterize the microbial communities found in both the external (skin and shell) and the internal (gut, cloaca, oral cavities) habitats provided by loggerheads. We collected microbial samples from +100 animals from several locations in the Mediterranean Sea (Pula aquarium, Vis, and Lošinj in Croatia, Bari in Italy, and Amvrakikos Bay and Rethymnos in Greece). Among others, the collected carapace and skin biofilm samples contained new species of microalgae (diatoms) that were subsequently described based on extensive morphological and molecular analyses. Diatoms, whose external silica skeletons are unique in nature, are one of the most important groups of primary producers. Certain diatom taxa are adapted to the conditions induced by the sea turtle biology and lifestyle and successfully colonise its external body surfaces. We have isolated, identified, and maintained ca. 200 non-axenic diatom strains, which were then used in several experiments investigating the ecological preferences of diatoms themselves and their associated bacterial partners. This presentation will summarize these and other results we obtained while exploring the prokaryotic and microeukaryotic communities of loggerheads. Our multidisciplinary investigations provide the first inventory of loggerhead sea turtle endo- and epimicrobiota, revealing high diversity, different levels of host fidelity, and local biogeography of wild sea turtle-associated microbes. Integration of this new knowledge with existing ecological and behavioral data will contribute to more efficient conservation and preservation efforts of loggerheads and other sea turtles.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija

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