Fecal microbiota of a dugong (Dugong dugong) in captivity at Toba Aquarium.
A captive female dugong at Toba Aquarium (Japan) was examined to describe the microbiota of its lower digestive tracts using the molecular-biological technique, a culture-independent method. The phylogenetic analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA genes was conducted for fecal samples, which were taken at 3 different periods. Based on phylogenetic analysis of these sequences, the representatives of six bacterial phyla could be identified: Actinobacteria (0.7%), Bacteroidetes (15%), Firmicutes (83.1%), Lentisphaerae (0.1%), Proteobacteria (0.1%), and Verrucomicrobia (1.0%), suggesting the existence of bacterial species newly found not only in the digestive tract but also in natural field.
Tsukinowa
Eiko
E
Graduate School of Bioresources, Mie University, Tsu, Japan.
Karita
Shuichi
S
Asano
Shiro
S
Wakai
Yoshihiro
Y
Oka
Yukari
Y
Furuta
Masami
M
Goto
Masakazu
M
D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo / Q000382:microbiology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D020454:Dugong / Q000382:microbiology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D007564:Japan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S