Urea hydrolysis by gut bacteria in a hibernating frog: evidence for urea-nitrogen recycling in Amphibia.

ABSTRACT: Gut bacteria that produce urease, the enzyme hydrolysing urea, contribute to nitrogen balance in diverse vertebrates, although the presence of this system of urea-nitrogen recycling in Amphibia is as yet unknown. Our studies of the wood frog (Rana sylvatica), a terrestrial species that accrues urea in winter, documented robust urease activity by enteric symbionts and hence potential to recoup nitrogen from the urea it produces. Ureolytic capacity in hibernating (non-feeding) frogs, whose guts hosted an approximately 33% smaller bacterial population, exceeded that of active (feeding) frogs, possibly due to an inductive effect of high urea on urease expression and/or remodelling of the microbial community. Furthermore, experimentally augmenting the host's plasma urea increased bacteri

SUBMITTER: Wiebler JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5966601 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature