Shewanella as PUFA producer in the earthworm gut
Prior research has demonstrated that earthworm microbiomes can potentially harbor PUFAs that are not found within their residing soil environment. Moreover, distinct indicator species have been pinpointed for various earthworm genera. Nevertheless, none of these studies have integrated metataxonomic and fatty acid analysis to explore the origin of PUFA synthesis in any earthworm species, with the objective of identifying the specific organisms and locations responsible for this production. This study suggests that earthworms accumulate PUFAs produced from bacteria, especially Shewanella, activated through the gut ecosystem. Sequencing was performed at the Joint Microbiome Facility of the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Vienna under the project ID JMF-2209-06.