Abstract
The planarian species Schmidtea mediterranea is a flatworm living in freshwater that is used in the research laboratory as a model to study developmental and regeneration mechanisms, as well as antibacterial mechanisms. However, the cultivable microbial repertoire of the microbes comprising its microbiota remains unknown. Here, we characterized the bacterial constituents of a 10-year-old laboratory culture of planarian species S. mediterranea via culturomics analysis. We isolated 40 cultivable bacterial species, including 1 unidentifiable species. The predominant phylum is Proteobacteria, and the most common genus is Pseudomonas. We discovered that parts of the bacterial flora of the planarian S. mediterranea can be classified as fish pathogens and opportunistic human pathogens.
Highlights
The microbiota is a complex ecology of an organism that varies greatly with time and lifestyles and between individuals, making it difficult to measure its implications in the organism’s immune response
The goal of our study is to report the cultivable bacteria comprising the microbiota of a 10-year-old laboratory planarian reference species, Schmidtea mediterranea, to define a standard microbiota
Using the culturomics approach to determine the bacterial communities of S. mediterranea starved for 2 weeks allowed us to isolate and identify a total of 40 bacterial species after 1 to 4 days of culturing at temperatures of 19 °C, 28 °C, and 37 °C on the following media: lysogeny broth (LB) agar, COS, and buffered charcoal yeast extract (BCYE)
Summary
The microbiota is a complex ecology of an organism that varies greatly with time and lifestyles and between individuals, making it difficult to measure its implications in the organism’s immune response. Planarians exist primarily as flesh-eating animals, though they feed on detritus, fungi, and bacteria[17]. Due to their diet and habitat, planarians are exposed to a wide range of microbes and are able to survive this exposure. The use of planarians for studies of antimicrobial response requires a deeper knowledge of their microbial repertoire. All these studies have been performed using planarians kept in the laboratory for several years[18,19,22,23,24]. The contribution of the microbiota to the antimicrobial response of laboratory strains of planarians has not been investigated
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
