title: The microbiome of the cloacal openings of the urogenital and anal tracts of the tammar wallaby,Macropus eugenii.
abstract: The bacterial diversity of the openings of the urogenital and anal tracts of the adult female tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii, was determined in order to ascertain whether the physical proximity of the openings of these tracts within the cloaca affected the two populations of bacteria. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analyses of 42 wallabies identified 81 different terminal fragments, indicative of diverse and complex microbiomes at these anatomical locations. Subsequent amplified rDNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) identified 72 phylotypes from the urogenital tract and 50 from the anal tract. Twenty-two of these phylotypes were common to both tracts. Phylogenetic analysis of sequenced 16S rDNA showed that 83 % of the phylotypes were unidentified species based on the premise that any sequence possessing <97 % homology to a known bacterial species or phylotype was novel. Thus, despite the close proximity of the openings of the urogenital and anal tracts within the cloaca, the two sites retained a diverse range of distinct bacteria, with only a small percentage of overlapping species.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Dental Research, Westmead Millennium Institute and Westmead Center for Oral Health, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.|Department of Biological Sciences, Division of Environmental and Life Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Kim-Ly
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Chhour
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Entomology, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Lyn A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Hinds
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Division of Environmental and Life Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Deane
authors.affiliation: Institute of Dental Research, Westmead Millennium Institute and Westmead Center for Oral Health, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
authors.forename: Nicholas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Jacques
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002988:Cloaca / Q000382:microbiology*; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D007614:Macropodidae / Q000382:microbiology*; D054892:Metagenome; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014566:Urogenital System / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S