Age-Related Differences in the Gastrointestinal Microbiota of Chinstrap Penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica).

ABSTRACT: The gastrointestinal tract microbiota is known to play very important roles in the well being of animals. It is a complex community composed by hundreds of microbial species interacting closely among them and with their host, that is, a microbial ecosystem. The development of high throughput sequencing techniques allows studying the diversity of such communities in a realistic way and considerable work has been carried out in mammals and some birds such as chickens. Wild birds have received less attention and in particular, in the case of penguins, only a few individuals of five species have been examined with molecular techniques. We collected cloacal samples from Chinstrap penguins in the Vapour Col rookery in Deception Island, Antarctica, and carried out pyrosequencing of the V1-V3 regi

SUBMITTER: Barbosa A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4824521 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature