Metagenomic-Based Study of the Phylogenetic and Functional Gene Diversity in Galápagos Land and Marine Iguanas
Type
ArticleAuthors
Hong, Pei-Ying
Mao, Yuejian
Ortiz-Kofoed, Shannon
Shah, Rushabh S.
Cann, Isaac Ko O
Mackie, Roderick Ian
KAUST Department
Environmental Science and Engineering ProgramWater Desalination and Reuse Research Center (WDRC)
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
Environmental Microbial Safety and Biotechnology Lab
Date
2014-12-19Online Publication Date
2014-12-19Print Publication Date
2015-02Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/575628
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In this study, a metagenome-based analysis of the fecal samples from the macrophytic algae-consuming marine iguana (MI; Amblyrhynchus cristatus) and terrestrial biomass-consuming land iguanas (LI; Conolophus spp.) was conducted. Phylogenetic affiliations of the fecal microbiome were more similar between both iguanas than to other mammalian herbivorous hosts. However, functional gene diversities in both MI and LI iguana hosts differed in relation to the diet, where the MI fecal microbiota had a functional diversity that clustered apart from the other terrestrial-biomass consuming reptilian and mammalian hosts. A further examination of the carbohydrate-degrading genes revealed that several of the prevalent glycosyl hydrolases (GH), glycosyl transferases (GT), carbohydrate binding modules (CBM), and carbohydrate esterases (CE) gene classes were conserved among all examined herbivorous hosts, reiterating the important roles these genes play in the breakdown and metabolism of herbivorous diets. Genes encoding some classes of carbohydrate-degrading families, including GH2, GH13, GT2, GT4, CBM50, CBM48, CE4, and CE11, as well as genes associated with sulfur metabolism and dehalogenation, were highly enriched or unique to the MI. In contrast, gene sequences that relate to archaeal methanogenesis were detected only in LI fecal microbiome, and genes coding for GH13, GH66, GT2, GT4, CBM50, CBM13, CE4, and CE8 carbohydrate active enzymes were highly abundant in the LI. Bacterial populations were enriched on various carbohydrates substrates (e.g., glucose, arabinose, xylose). The majority of the enriched bacterial populations belong to genera Clostridium spp. and Enterococcus spp. that likely accounted for the high prevalence of GH13 and GH2, as well as the GT families (e.g., GT2, GT4, GT28, GT35, and GT51) that were ubiquitously present in the fecal microbiota of all herbivorous hosts.Citation
Hong, P.-Y., Mao, Y., Ortiz-Kofoed, S., Shah, R., Cann, I., & Mackie, R. I. (2014). Metagenomic-Based Study of the Phylogenetic and Functional Gene Diversity in Galápagos Land and Marine Iguanas. Microbial Ecology, 69(2), 444–456. doi:10.1007/s00248-014-0547-6Publisher
Springer NatureJournal
Microbial Ecologyae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s00248-014-0547-6