Experimentally induced metamorphosis in highly regenerative axolotl (ambystoma mexicanum) under constant diet restructures microbiota.

ABSTRACT: Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is a critically endangered salamander species and a model organism for regenerative and developmental biology. Despite life-long neoteny in nature and in captive-bred colonies, metamorphosis of these animals can be experimentally induced by administering Thyroid hormones (THs). However, microbiological consequences of this experimental procedure, such as host microbiota response, remain largely unknown. Here, we systematically compared host bacterial microbiota associated with skin, stomach, gut tissues and fecal samples, between neotenic and metamorphic axolotls based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Our results show that distinct bacterial communities inhabit individual organs of axolotl and undergo substantial restructuring through metamorphosis. Skin microbiota

SUBMITTER: Demircan T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6054665 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature