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The effect of diet on the gastrointestinal microbiome of juvenile rehabilitating green turtles (Chelonia mydas).

ABSTRACT: Threatened and endangered green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are unique because as juveniles they recruit from pelagic to near-shore waters and shift from an omnivorous to primarily herbivorous diet (i.e. seagrass and algae). Nevertheless, when injured and ill animals are admitted to rehabilitation, animal protein (e.g. seafood) is often offered to combat poor appetite and emaciation. We examined how the fecal microbiome of juvenile green turtles changed in response to a dietary shift during rehabilitation. We collected fecal samples from January 2014 -January 2016 from turtles (N = 17) in rehabilitation at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and used next generation sequencing to analyze bacterial community composition. Samples were collected at admission, mid-rehabilitation, and recovery, which entailed a shift from a mixed seafood-vegetable diet at admission to a primarily herbivorous diet at recovery. The dominant phyla changed over time, from primarily Firmicutes (55.0%) with less Bacteroidetes (11.4%) at admission, to primarily Bacteroidetes (38.4%) and less Firmicutes (31.8%) at recovery. While the microbiome likely shifts with the changing health status of individuals, this consistent inversion of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes among individuals likely reflects the increased need for protein digestion, for which Bacteroidetes are important. Firmicutes are significant in metabolizing plant polysaccharides; thus, fewer Firmicutes may result in underutilization of wild diet items in released individuals. This study demonstrates the importance of transitioning rehabilitating green turtles to an herbivorous diet as soon as possible to afford them the best probability of survival.

SUBMITTER: Bloodgood JCG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6961862 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The effect of diet on the gastrointestinal microbiome of juvenile rehabilitating green turtles (Chelonia mydas).

Bloodgood Jennifer C G JCG Hernandez Sonia M SM Isaiah Anitha A Suchodolski Jan S JS Hoopes Lisa A LA Thompson Patrick M PM Waltzek Thomas B TB Norton Terry M TM

PloS one 20200115 1

Threatened and endangered green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are unique because as juveniles they recruit from pelagic to near-shore waters and shift from an omnivorous to primarily herbivorous diet (i.e. seagrass and algae). Nevertheless, when injured and ill animals are admitted to rehabilitation, animal protein (e.g. seafood) is often offered to combat poor appetite and emaciation. We examined how the fecal microbiome of juvenile green turtles changed in response to a dietary shift during rehabil ...[more]

PMID: 31940380

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Tetrapods do not express hydrolases for cellulose and hemicellulose assimilation, and hence, the independent acquisition of herbivory required the establishment of new endosymbiotic relationships between tetrapods and microbes. Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are one of the three groups of marine tetrapods with an herbivorous diet and which acquire it after several years consuming pelagic animals. We characterized the microbiota present in the feces and rectum of 24 young wild and captive green turtles from the coastal waters of Brazil, with curved carapace length ranging from 31.1 to 64.7 cm, to test the hypotheses that (1) the ontogenetic dietary shift after settlement is followed by a gradual change in the composition and diversity of the gut microbiome, (2) differences exist between the composition and diversity of the gut microbiome of green turtles from tropical and subtropical regions, and (3) the consumption of omnivorous diets modifies the gut microbiota of green turtles. RESULTS:A genomic library of 2,186,596 valid bacterial 16S rRNA reads was obtained and these sequences were grouped into 6321 different operational taxonomic units (at 97% sequence homology cutoff). The results indicated that most of the juvenile green turtles less than 45 cm of curved carapace length exhibited a fecal microbiota co-dominated by representatives of the phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes and high levels of Clostridiaceae, Prophyromonas, Ruminococaceae, and Lachnospiraceae within the latter phylum. Furthermore, this was the only microbiota profile found in wild green turtles >?45 cm CCL and in most of the captive green turtles of any size feeding on a macroalgae/fish mixed diet. Nevertheless, microbial diversity increased with turtle size and was higher in turtles from tropical than from subtropical regions. CONCLUSIONS:These results indicate that juvenile green turtles from the coastal waters of Brazil had the same general microbiota, regardless of body size and origin, and suggest a fast acquisition of a polysaccharide fermenting gut microbiota by juvenile green turtles after settlement into coastal habitats.

Dataset Information

The effect of diet on the gastrointestinal microbiome of juvenile rehabilitating green turtles (Chelonia mydas).

Publications

The effect of diet on the gastrointestinal microbiome of juvenile rehabilitating green turtles (Chelonia mydas).

Similar Datasets

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