Spatial Succession Underlies Microbial Contribution to Food Digestion in the Gut of an Algivorous Sea Urchin.

ABSTRACT: Dietary influence on the microbiome in algivorous sea urchins such as Tripneustes gratilla elatensis suggests a bacterial contribution to the digestion of fiber-rich seaweed. An ecological insight into the spatial arrangement in the gut bacterial community will improve our knowledge of host-microbe relations concerning the involved taxa, their metabolic repertoire, and the niches of activity. Toward this goal, we investigated the bacterial communities in the esophagus, stomach, and intestine of Ulva-fed sea urchins through 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, followed by the prediction of their functional genes. We revealed communities with distinct features, especially those in the esophagus and intestine. The esophageal community was less diverse and was poor in food digestive or ferment

SUBMITTER: Masasa M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10269587 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature