Macrobdella decora: Old World Leech Gut Microbial Community Structure Conserved in a New World Leech.

ABSTRACT: Leeches are found in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine habitats on all continents. Sanguivorous leeches have been used in medicine for millennia. Modern scientific uses include studies of neurons, anticoagulants, and gut microbial symbioses. Hirudo verbana, the European medicinal leech, maintains a gut community dominated by two bacterial symbionts, Aeromonas veronii and Mucinivorans hirudinis, which sometimes account for as much as 97% of the total crop microbiota. The highly simplified gut anatomy and microbiome of H. verbana make it an excellent model organism for studying gut microbial dynamics. The North American medicinal leech, Macrobdella decora, is a hirudinid leech native to Canada and the northern United States. In this study, we show that M.

SUBMITTER: McClure EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8117757 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature