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Publication
Red, gold and green: microbial contribution of Rhodophyta and other Algae to Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Gut Microbiome
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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The fitness of the endangered green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) may be strongly affected
by its gut microbiome, as microbes play important roles in host nutrition and health. This study
aimed at establishing environmental microbial baselines that can be used to assess turtle health under
altered future conditions. We characterized the microbiome associated with the gastrointestinal tract
of green turtles from Guinea Bissau in different life stages and associated with their food items, using
16S rRNA metabarcoding. We found that the most abundant (% relative abundance) bacterial phyla
across the gastrointestinal sections were Proteobacteria (68.1 ± 13.9% “amplicon sequence variants”,
ASVs), Bacteroidetes (15.1 ± 10.1%) and Firmicutes (14.7 ± 21.7%). Additionally, we found the
presence of two red algae bacterial indicator ASVs (the Alphaproteobacteria Brucella pinnipedialis with
75 ± 0% and a Gammaproteobacteria identified as methanotrophic endosymbiont of Bathymodiolus,
with <1%) in cloacal compartments, along with six bacterial ASVs shared only between cloacal and
local environmental red algae samples. We corroborate previous results demonstrating that green
turtles fed on red algae (but, to a lower extent, also seagrass and brown algae), thus, acquiring
microbial components that potentially aid them digest these food items. This study is a foundation
for better understanding the microbial composition of sea turtle digestive tracts.
Description
Keywords
16S rRNA Microbiota eDNA Chelonia mydas Metabarcoding Macrophytes Sea turtles
Citation
Microorganisms 10 (10): 1988 (2022)
Publisher
MDPI