title: Fecal Bacterial Composition of the Endangered Yangtze Finless Porpoises Living Under Captive and Semi-natural Conditions.
abstract: Intestinal microbiota is essential to the health and physiology of host animals. We undertook the first microbiological study of the fecal bacterial composition from critically endangered (CR) Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis; YFPs) living under captive and semi-natural conditions using both high-throughput sequencing method and 16S rRNA gene clone library method. As determined by high-throughput sequencing of V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene, semi-natural samples harbored 30 and 36 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), which was more than the 22 and 27 OTUs detected from YFPs living in captivity. In captive YFPs Firmicutes was the predominant phylum, whereas this was Proteobacteria for YFPs living in semi-nature conditions. This suggests habitat-specific fecal bacterial composition of YFPs. Plesiomonas spp. and Aeromonas spp., which are potentially pathogenic, were identified in all the feces. Bacterial diversity from one porpoise living in captivity was also determined by constructing a 16S rRNA gene clone library and only 1 phylum was identified. High-throughput sequencing was more effective at determining the bacterial diversity compared to the 16S rRNA gene clone library. This study provides important information for the management and conservation of the CR YFPs.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, 430072, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, 430072, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, 430072, China.|Biology Department, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, 700 Terrace, Winona, MN, 55987-1399, USA.
authors.forename: Richard William
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, 430072, China.
authors.forename: Yujiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, 430072, China. zhengjinsong@ihb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jinsong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, 430072, China. wangd@ihb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Ding
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D058448:Biota; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019576:Porpoises / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S