Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Analysis of the Microbiota in the Fecal Material of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)

  • Published:
Current Microbiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We used high-throughput sequencing analysis, which targeted the hypervariable V3–V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene, to investigate the microbiota in fecal material from ten wild painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) captured in southeastern Wisconsin. The most predominant bacterial phylum detected in all samples was the Firmicutes (relative abundance for all samples 96.4% to 68.3%). The next most predominant phylum was Bacteroidetes (relative abundance for all samples 23.9% to 7.8%) in eight samples. Fusobacteria (relative abundance for all samples 22.2% to 0%) was the second most predominant in the other two samples.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ernst CH, Lovich JE (2009) Turtles of the United States and Canada, 2nd edn. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, p. 840

  2. Mitchell JC, McAvoy BV (1990) Enteric bacteria in natural populations of freshwater turtles in Virginia. Virginia J Sci 41:233–242

    Google Scholar 

  3. Richards JM, Brown JD, Kelly TR, Fountain AL, Sleeman JM (2004) Absence of detectable Salmonella cloacal shedding in free-living reptiles on admission to the wildlife center of Virginia. J Zoo Wildl Med 35:562–563

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Saelinger CA, Lawbart GA, Christian LS, Lemons CL (2006) Prevalence of Salmonella spp. in cloacal, fecal, and gastrointestinal mucosal samples from wild North American turtles. J Amer Vet Med Assoc 229:266–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ley RE, Lozupone CA, Hamady M, Knight R, Gordon JI (2008) Worlds within worlds: evolution of the vertebrate gut microbiota. Nat Rev Microbiol 6:776–788

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. McFall-Ngai M, Hadfield MG, Bosch TC, Carey HV, Domazet-Lošo T, Douglas AE, Dubilier N, Eberl G, Fukami T, Gilbert SF, Hentschel U, King N, Kjelleberg S, Knoll AH, Kremer N, Mazmanian SK, Metcalf JL, Nealson K, Pierce NE, Rawls JF, Reid A, Nishino R, Mikami K, Takahashi H, Tomonaga S, Furuse M, Hiramoto T, Aiba Y, Koga Y, Sudo N (2013) Commensal microbiota modulate murine behaviors in a strictly contamination-free environment confirmed by culture-based methods. Neurogastroenterol Motil 25:521–528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Koeth RA, Wang Z, Levison BS, Buffa JA, Org E, Sheehy BT, Britt EB, Fu X, Wu Y, Li L, Smith JD, DiDonato JA, Chen J, Li H, Wu GD, Lewis JD, Warrier M, Brown JM, Krauss RM, Tang WH, Bushman FD, Lusis AJ, Hazen SL (2013) Intestinal microbiota metabolism of l-carnitine, a nutrient in red meat, promotes atherosclerosis. Nat Med 19:576–585

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Tompkins DM, Carver S, Jones ME, Krkosek M, Skerratt LF (2015) Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife: a critical perspective. Trends Parasit 31:149–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Callahan BJ, McMurdie PJ, Rosen MJ, Han AW, Johnson AJ, Holmes SP (2016) DADA2: high resolution sample inference from Illumina amplicon data. Nat Methods 13:581–583

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Caporaso JG, Kuczynski J, Stombaugh J, Bittinger K, Bushman FD, Costello EK, Fierer N, Peña AG, Goodrich JK, Gordon JI, Huttley GA, Kelley ST, Knights D, Koenig JE, Ley RE, Lozupone CA, McDonald D, Muegge BD, Pirrung M, Reeder J, Sevinsky JR, Turnbaugh PJ, Walters WA, Widmann J, Yatsunenko T, Zaneveld J, Knight R (2010) QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data. Nat Methods 7:335–336

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Nelson TM, Rogers TL, Brown MV (2013) The gut bacterial community of mammals from marine and terrestrial habitats. PLoS ONE 8:e83655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ahasan MS, Waltzek TB, Huerlimann R, Ariel E (2017) Fecal bacterial communities of wild-captured and stranded green turtles (Chelonia mydas) on the great barrier reef. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 1:93

    Google Scholar 

  13. Ahasan MS, Waltzek TB, Huerlimann R, Ariel E (2018) Comparative analysis of gut bacterial communities of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) pre-hospitalization and post-rehabilitation by high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Microbiol Res 207:91–99

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Price JT, Paladino FV, Lamont MM, Witherington BE, Bates ST, Soule T (2017) Characterization of the juvenile green turtle (Chelonia mydas) microbiome throughout an ontogenetic shift from pelagic to neritic habitats. PLoS ONE 12:e0177642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Wang W, Zheng S, Sharshov K, Sun H, Yang F, Wang X, Li L, Xiao Z (2017) Metagenomic profiling of gut microbial communities in both wild and artificially reared Bar-headed goose (Anser indicus). Microbiologyopen 6:e00429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Thoetkiattikul H, Mhuantong W, Laothanachareon T, Tangphatsornruang S, Pattarajinda V, Eurwilaichitr L, Champreda V (2013) Comparative analysis of microbial profiles in cow rumen fed with different dietary fiber by tagged 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. Curr Microbiol 67:130–137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Uffen RL (1997) Xylan degradation: a glimpse at microbial diversity. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 19:1–6

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Uz I, Ogram AV (2006) Cellulolytic and fermentative guilds in eutrophic soils of the Florida Everglades. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 57:396–408

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Hong PY, Wheeler E, Cann IK, Mackie RI (2011) Phylogenetic analysis of the fecal microbial community in herbivorous land and marine iguanas of the Galapagos Islands using 16S rRNA-based pyrosequencing. ISME J 5:1461–1470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Meital NO, Hadar N, Omry K (2016) Microbial changes during pregnancy, birth, and infancy. Front Microbiol 7:1031

    Google Scholar 

  21. Spence C, Wells WG, Smith CJ (2006) Characterization of the primary starch utilization operon in the obligate anaerobe Bacteroides fragilis: regulation by carbon source and oxygen. J Bacteriol 188:4663–4672

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Keenan SW, Engel AS, Elsey RM (2013) The alligator gut microbiome and implications for archosaur symbioses. Sci Rep 3:2877

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was done as part of a Provost Honors project under the leadership of Zina Haywood, Executive Vice President/Provost. We thank Karina Rebman and Jarod Lorenz for their assistance with turtle surveys. We also thank Jennifer Cumpston and Donald Zakutansky for their enthusiastic support of this research.

Funding

This project was supported by funding provided by Gateway Technical College and by the Gateway Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. General Studies, Gateway Technical College, 3520 – 30th Avenue, Kenosha, WI, 53144, USA

    Hannah M. Fugate & Richard William McLaughlin

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, WI, 53190, USA

    Joshua M. Kapfer

Authors
  1. Hannah M. Fugate
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joshua M. Kapfer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Richard William McLaughlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard William McLaughlin.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 66 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fugate, H.M., Kapfer, J.M. & McLaughlin, R.W. Analysis of the Microbiota in the Fecal Material of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta). Curr Microbiol 77, 11–14 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-019-01787-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-019-01787-5

Search

Navigation