Abstract
The gut microbiota of vertebrates play a crucial role in shaping the health of their hosts. However, knowledge of the avian intestinal microbiota has arguably lagged behind that of many other vertebrates. Here, we examine the intestinal bacterial communities of the hooded crane and the greater white-fronted goose at the Shengjin Lake of China, using high-throughput sequencing (Illumina Mi-Seq), and infer the potential pathogens associated with each species. Intestinal bacterial alpha-diversity in the greater white-fronted goose was significantly higher than that in hooded crane. The intestinal bacterial community compositions were significantly different between the two hosts, suggesting that host interactions with specific communities might have profound implications. In addition, potential pathogens were detected in both guts of the two hosts, suggesting that these wild birds might be at risk of disease and probably spread infectious disease to other sympatric vertebrates. The gut of hooded crane carried more potential pathogens than that of the greater white-fronted goose. The potentially pathogenic community compositions were also significantly different between the two hosts, suggesting the divergence of potentially pathogenic communities between hooded crane, and greater white-fronted goose. Finally, bacterial and potentially pathogenic structures showed strong evidence of phylogenic clustering in both hosts, further demonstrating that each host was associated with preferential and defined bacterial and potentially pathogenic communities. Our results argue that more attention should be paid to investigate avian intestinal pathogens which might increase disease risks for conspecifics and other mixed species, and even poultry and human beings.
Highlights
The gut microbiota of vertebrates is one of the most densely populated microbial assemblages (Whitman et al, 1998), and plays an essential role in the health of their hosts (Heijtza et al, 2011)
The results showed that bacteria in eight phyla (i.e., Fibrobacteres, Fusobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, OP11, OP3, Spirochaetes, Thermi and Verrucomicrobia), and 16 classes (i.e., Holophagae, Acidimicrobiia, Thermoleophilia, Chloroflexi, Ellin6529, Fibrobacteria, Fusobacteriia, Gemm_1, ZB2, OP11_3, OP11_4, Koll11, Spirochaetia, SC3, Deinococci and Verruco_5) were significantly more abundant in the gut of the hooded crane (Figure 2 and Supplementary Figure S2)
We found significant differences in the intestinal bacterial community composition and diversity between hooded crane and greater white-fronted goose, demonstrating that bacterial taxa showed strong host-preference, suggesting that hosts were the crucial factor in shaping the intestinal bacterial structure (Eckburg et al, 2005)
Summary
The gut microbiota of vertebrates is one of the most densely populated microbial assemblages (Whitman et al, 1998), and plays an essential role in the health of their hosts (Heijtza et al, 2011). The intestinal microbial assemblage patterns are shaped by a series of complex and dynamic interactions throughout life, including diet (De Filippo et al, 2010), lifestyle (Ley et al, 2008; Nicholson et al, 2012), and seasonal fluctuations (Hird et al, 2014). Recent studies of avian intestinal microbiota are mainly focused on ornamental and economically important birds (e.g., kakapo, hoatzins, poultry, etc), most of which showed that gastrointestinal microbial communities bring benefits to their hosts (Jin et al, 1998; Angelakis and Raoult, 2010; Torok et al, 2011; Zhang et al, 2011; Cao et al, 2012; Stanley et al, 2012). The assumption that migrating birds facilitate pathogenic propagation has not been definitely verified
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.
