Abstract
There are two pygoscelid penguins, the Gentoo (Pygoscelis papua Forster, 1781) and Adélie (P. adeliae Hombron and Jacquinot, 1841) penguins, breeding sympatrically on Ardley Island, Fildes Peninsula region, South Shetlands, Antarctica. Whether the two closely related penguin species with similar dietary habits possess compositional similarity in gut microbiota remains unknown. DNA barcoding of feces is an emerging approach for gut microbiota analysis of protected animals. In the present study, the 16S rRNA gene from penguin feces was sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq platform to investigate the gut microbiota of the two pygoscelid penguin species. The fecal community of Gentoo penguins has higher diversity indices and OTU (operational taxonomic unit) richness compared to Adélie penguins. Besides unclassified bacteria, sequences fell into 22 major lineages of the domain Bacteria: Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Armatimonadetes, Bacteroidetes, Chlamydiae, Chloroflexi, Cloacimonetes, Cyanobacteria, Deinococcus-Thermus, Fibrobacteres, Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Ignavibacteriae, Planctomycetes, Proteobacteria, Tenericutes, Verrucomicrobia, and candidate divisions BRC1, SR1, WPS-2, and Saccharibacteria. Among these, Firmicutes (37.7%), Proteobacteria (23.1%, mainly Gamma- and Betaproteobacteria), Fusobacteria (14.3%), Bacteroidetes (7.9%), and Actinobacteria (6.6%) were dominant in the fecal microbiota of the two penguin species. At the same time, significantly higher abundances of Actinobacteria and Cyanobacteria were detected in Gentoo penguins than in Adélie penguins (p < 0.05). Overall, there was a clear difference in the composition of gut microbiota between the Adélie and Gentoo penguins. The results suggested that both the phylogeny of penguin species and the diet could be responsible for the differences in the gut microbiota of the two pygoscelid penguins breeding in the same area.
Highlights
As important marine mesopredators and sensitive indicators of Antarctic ecosystem changes, penguins have become a major focus of long-term biological research in the Antarctic [1]
Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Fusobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria were found to dominate the gut microbiota of both Adélie and Gentoo penguins breeding on Antarctic
There was an overall difference in fecal bacterial community composition between the two penguin species, suggesting that the gut microbiota of the two pygoscelid penguins with similar dietary habits has a close connection to the penguin species
Summary
As important marine mesopredators and sensitive indicators of Antarctic ecosystem changes, penguins have become a major focus of long-term biological research in the Antarctic [1]. The Fildes Peninsula region located west of the Antarctic Peninsula, including the Fildes Peninsula and neighboring Ardley Island, is part of King George Island in the. This region is part of the largest ice-free area in the maritime. Antarctic region and is characterized by its comparatively high biodiversity due to higher mean temperature and precipitation compared to the continental region [2,3]. Island is well known for its high diversity of nesting seabirds and extensive plant cover. There are three congeneric penguin species, the Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae Hombron and Jacquinot, 1841), Chinstrap (P. antarctica Forster, 1781), and Gentoo (P. papua Forster, 1781). An increase in the numbers of Gentoo penguins and a decrease in the Adélie and Chinstrap penguin populations were
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