Abstract
The leachate generated by the decomposition of animal carcass has been implicated as an environmental contaminant surrounding the burial site. High-throughput nucleotide sequencing was conducted to investigate the bacterial communities in leachates from the decomposition of pig carcasses. We acquired 51,230 reads from six different samples (1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 14 week-old carcasses) and found that sequences representing the phylum Firmicutes predominated. The diversity of bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences in the leachate was the highest at 6 weeks, in contrast to those at 2 and 14 weeks. The relative abundance of Firmicutes was reduced, while the proportion of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria increased from 3–6 weeks. The representation of phyla was restored after 14 weeks. However, the community structures between the samples taken at 1–2 and 14 weeks differed at the bacterial classification level. The trend in pH was similar to the changes seen in bacterial communities, indicating that the pH of the leachate could be related to the shift in the microbial community. The results indicate that the composition of bacterial communities in leachates of decomposing pig carcasses shifted continuously during the study period and might be influenced by the burial site.
Highlights
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is highly contagious and is caused by members of the genus Aphthovirus, represented by various serotypes, such as A, O, C, SAT-1, SAT-2, SAT-3, and Asia-1 (Brooksby, 1982; Seellers, 1995).FMD is especially fatal in young animals as a result of myocardial damage, while the mortality rate of FMD might be low in adult animals (Sharma and Das, 1984; Woodbury, 1995; Domingo et al, 1990; Gruman and Baxt, 2004)
Leachates derived from the decomposition of animal carcasses consist of organic intermediates, volatile chemicals, and saprotrophic organisms, which may pose a high contamination risk to soil and groundwater when leaking through the basement layer (Christensen et al, 1994; Röling et al, 2001; Tian et al, 2005)
The analyses of bacterial communities in leachates from different stages of the decomposition of pig carcasses were conducted by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons
Summary
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is highly contagious and is caused by members of the genus Aphthovirus, represented by various serotypes, such as A, O, C, SAT-1, SAT-2, SAT-3, and Asia-1 (Brooksby, 1982; Seellers, 1995).FMD is especially fatal in young animals as a result of myocardial damage, while the mortality rate of FMD might be low in adult animals (Sharma and Das, 1984; Woodbury, 1995; Domingo et al, 1990; Gruman and Baxt, 2004). Leachates derived from the decomposition of animal carcasses consist of organic intermediates, volatile chemicals, and saprotrophic organisms, which may pose a high contamination risk to soil and groundwater when leaking through the basement layer (Christensen et al, 1994; Röling et al, 2001; Tian et al, 2005)
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