Highly abundant core taxa in the blow within and across captive bottlenose dolphins provide evidence for a temporally stable airway microbiota.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The analysis of blow microbiota has been proposed as a biomarker for respiratory health analysis in cetaceans. Yet, we lack crucial knowledge on the long-term stability of the blow microbiota and its potential changes during disease. Research in humans and mice have provided evidence that respiratory disease is accompanied by a shift in microbial communities of the airways. We investigate here the stability of the community composition of the blow microbiota for 13 captive bottlenose dolphins over eight months including both sick and healthy individuals. We used barcoded tag sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Four of the dolphins experienced distinct medical conditions and received systemic antimicrobial treatment during the study.

Results

We showed that e

SUBMITTER: Vendl C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7796641 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature