Microbiome structure in large pelagic sharks with distinct feeding ecologies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sharks play essential roles in ocean food webs and human culture, but also face population declines worldwide due to human activity. The relationship between sharks and the microbes on and in the shark body is unclear, despite research on other animals showing the microbiome as intertwined with host physiology, immunity, and ecology. Research on shark-microbe interactions faces the significant challenge of sampling the largest and most elusive shark species. We leveraged a unique sampling infrastructure to compare the microbiomes of two apex predators, the white (Carcharodon carcharias) and tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), to those of the filter-feeding whale shark (Rhincodon typus), allowing us to explore the effects of feeding mode on intestinal microbiome diversity an

SUBMITTER: Pratte ZA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8895868 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature