| Title: | Faecal bacterial communities from Mediterranean loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) |
| Author(s): | Biagi E; D'Amico F; Soverini M; Angelini V; Barone M; Turroni S; Rampelli S; Pari S; Brigidi P; Candela M; |
| Address: | "Unit of Microbial Ecology of Health, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. Fondazione Cetacea Onlus, Riccione, Italy" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1758-2229 (Electronic) 1758-2229 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is the most widespread sea turtle species in the Mediterranean Sea and a relevant pollution 'flagship species'. Here, we profiled the faecal microbiota from 29 C. caretta from a rescue centre, and explored the impact of several variables linked to both the animal itself and the environment (i.e., tank water ecosystem). We show that loggerhead turtles share more gut microbiota features with carnivorous marine mammals, than with phylogenetically close, but herbivorous, turtles, as a confirmation of the gut microbiota adaptive function to diet and environment. We also highlight a relation between the microbiota composition and the size (and consequently the age) of the turtles. Finally, we point out that the gut microbiota of sea turtles shows unexpectedly low exchange of microbes with the aquatic environment and is resilient to the stress induced by short-time captivity" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Bacteria/classification/genetics Feces/*microbiology *Gastrointestinal Microbiome Mediterranean Sea Phylogeny RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics Turtles/*microbiology Water Microbiology;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineBiagi, Elena D'Amico, Federica Soverini, Matteo Angelini, Valeria Barone, Monica Turroni, Silvia Rampelli, Simone Pari, Sauro Brigidi, Patrizia Candela, Marco eng LIFE12 NAT/IT/000937/LIFE-EU project TartaLife/International Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2018/07/27 Environ Microbiol Rep. 2019 Jun; 11(3):361-371. doi: 10.1111/1758-2229.12683. Epub 2018 Sep 9" |
