Fast acquisition of a polysaccharide fermenting gut microbiome by juvenile green turtles Chelonia mydas after settlement in coastal habitats.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tetrapods do not express hydrolases for cellulose and hemicellulose assimilation, and hence, the independent acquisition of herbivory required the establishment of new endosymbiotic relationships between tetrapods and microbes. Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are one of the three groups of marine tetrapods with an herbivorous diet and which acquire it after several years consuming pelagic animals. We characterized the microbiota present in the feces and rectum of 24 young wild and captive green turtles from the coastal waters of Brazil, with curved carapace length ranging from 31.1 to 64.7 cm, to test the hypotheses that (1) the ontogenetic dietary shift after settlement is followed by a gradual change in the composition and diversity of the gut microbiome, (2) difference

SUBMITTER: Campos P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5894180 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature