title: The Hoopoe's Uropygial Gland Hosts a Bacterial Community Influenced by the Living Conditions of the Bird.
abstract: Molecular methods have revealed that symbiotic systems involving bacteria are mostly based on whole bacterial communities. Bacterial diversity in hoopoe uropygial gland secretion is known to be mainly composed of certain strains of enterococci, but this conclusion is based solely on culture-dependent techniques. This study, by using culture-independent techniques (based on the 16S rDNA and the ribosomal intergenic spacer region) shows that the bacterial community in the uropygial gland secretion is more complex than previously thought and its composition is affected by the living conditions of the bird. Besides the known enterococci, the uropygial gland hosts other facultative anaerobic species and several obligated anaerobic species (mostly clostridia). The bacterial assemblage of this community was largely invariable among study individuals, although differences were detected between captive and wild female hoopoes, with some strains showing significantly higher prevalence in wild birds. These results alter previous views on the hoopoe-bacteria symbiosis and open a new window to further explore this system, delving into the possible sources of symbiotic bacteria (e.g. nest environments, digestive tract, winter quarters) or the possible functions of different bacterial groups in different contexts of parasitism or predation of their hoopoe host.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Sonia M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Ruano
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martín-Vivaldi
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Martín-Platero
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: J Pablo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: López-López
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Peralta-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (CSIC), Almería, Spain.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (CSIC), Almería, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Soler
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Valdivia
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martínez-Bueno
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000382:microbiology*; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012543:Scent Glands / Q000382:microbiology*; D012924:Social Conditions; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000502:physiology