Preliminary Characterization of Facial and Oral Microbiomes of Three Bat Species Commonly Occurring in Northwest Kansas

Abstract

Various bat species are at risk due to White-Nose Syndrome, a disease rapidly spreading throughout the United States. Metagenomic research on the microbiome of bats’ mouths and noses may provide helpful information to characterize how bats’ microbiomes interact with White-Nose Syndrome so that this disease may be mitigated. However, minimal research has been conducted in characterizing bats’ oral and facial microbial populations. To address this issue, we analyzed the oral and facial microbiomes of bat species commonly occurring in Northwestern Kansas. Oral and facial swabs were taken from Tricolor, Big Brown, and Evening bat (n=1 per species). Bacterial DNA was isolated from swabs, and the V3/V4 region of the 16s DNA was amplified using polymerase chain reactions (PCR). The PCR products were purified and sequenced. Sequencing data was then analyzed using Galaxy bioinformatics software. Results showed that the majority of bacteria present in facial swabs was Alteromonas, reflecting the high mineral content in the water source that bats use. Oral bacterial population profiles of Tricolor and Big Brown bats were more diverse than their respective facial samples. In contrast, oral and facial swabs from the Evening bat had similar bacterial population profiles. Our preliminary study showed that the oral samples appeared more diverse in bacterial populations than in facial. Therefore, our future studies should investigate the difference between oral and facial bacteria population profiles in more detail by investigating a larger sample and increasing bat species diversity. Further research should also include the seasonal effects on bacterial populations. The College of St. Scholastica Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.