Faecal bacterial communities differ amongst discrete foraging populations of dugongs along the east Australian coast.

ABSTRACT: Gut bacterial communities play a vital role in a host's digestion and fermentation of complex carbohydrates, absorption of nutrients, and energy harvest/storage. Dugongs are obligate seagrass grazers with an expanded hindgut and associated microbiome. Here, we characterised and compared the faecal bacterial communities of dugongs from genetically distinct populations along the east coast of Australia, between subtropical Moreton Bay and tropical Cleveland Bay. Amplicon sequencing of fresh dugong faecal samples (n=47) revealed Firmicutes (62%) dominating the faecal bacterial communities across all populations. Several bacterial genera (Bacteroides, Clostridium sensu stricto 1, Blautia and Polaribacter) were detected in samples from all locations, suggesting their importance in seagrass dige

SUBMITTER: Mikkelsen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11141782 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature