The Microbial Community of Tetrodotoxin-Bearing and Non-Tetrodotoxin-Bearing Ribbon Worms (Nemertea) from the Sea of Japan.

ABSTRACT: A potent marine toxin, tetrodotoxin (TTX), found in a great variety of marine and some terrestrial species, leaves intriguing questions about its origin and distribution in marine ecosystems. TTX-producing bacteria were found in the cultivable microflora of many TTX-bearing hosts, thereby providing strong support for the hypothesis that the toxin is of bacterial origin in these species. However, metagenomic studies of TTX-bearing animals addressing the whole microbial composition and estimating the contribution of TTX-producing bacteria to the overall toxicity of the host were not conducted. The present study is the first to characterize and compare the 16S rRNA gene data obtained from four TTX-bearing and four non-TTX-bearing species of marine ribbon worms. The statistical analysis showed

SUBMITTER: Melnikova DI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7143766 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature