肠道微生物是评估动物健康状况的关键参考指标。在将人工繁殖的物种引入野外之前,检查它们的肠道微生物组成对于帮助减轻对野生种群构成的潜在威胁至关重要。然而,野生和人工饲养的绿海龟之间的肠道微生物学特征相似性仍未被探索。因此,这项研究通过高通量Illumina测序技术比较了野生和人工饲养的绿海龟(Cheloniamydas)的肠道微生物学特征。野生绿海龟肠道细菌的α-多样性,根据Shannon和Chao指数确定,显著超过人工养殖绿龟(p<0.01)。然而,野生和人工饲养的绿海龟之间的真菌α多样性没有显着差异。同时,β多样性分析显示,野生和人工饲养的绿龟在细菌和真菌组成上存在显着差异。人工饲养的绿海龟中的肠道细菌群落中的镰状杆菌的丰度明显更高,包括属于副球菌的镰状杆菌,细菌杆菌,和梭杆菌属比野生绿龟。相比之下,放线菌门和Nautella属的细菌丰度显着下降。关于真菌群落,人工饲养的绿海龟的镰刀菌丰度明显较高,病菌,与野生绿海龟相比,念珠菌和红藻的丰度较低。PICRUSt2分析显示各组之间肠道细菌菌群的功能存在显着差异,特别是碳水化合物和能量代谢。真菌功能公会分析进一步表明,野生和人工饲养的绿海龟的肠道真菌菌群的功能在动物病原体-内生菌-苔藓寄生虫-植物病原体-土壤腐生-木材腐生方面存在显着差异。BugBase分析揭示了野生和人工饲养的绿海龟之间的潜在致病性和胁迫耐受性差异。总的来说,这项研究阐明了野生和人工饲养的绿海龟肠道微生物群的独特特征,同时评估了它们的健康状况。这些发现为将人工饲养的绿海龟和其他人工饲养的野生动物释放到自然栖息地提供了宝贵的科学见解。
Gut microbes are pivotal reference indicators for assessing the health status of animals. Before introducing artificially bred species into the wild, examining their gut microbe composition is crucial to help mitigate potential threats posed to wild populations. However, gut microbiological trait similarities between wild and artificially bred green turtles remain unexplored. Therefore, this study compared the gut microbiological characteristics of wild and artificially bred green turtles (Chelonia mydas) through high-throughput Illumina sequencing technology. The α-diversity of intestinal bacteria in wild green turtles, as determined by Shannon and Chao indices, significantly surpasses that of artificial breeding green turtles (p < 0.01). However, no significant differences were detected in the fungal α-diversity between wild and artificially bred green turtles. Meanwhile, the β-diversity analysis revealed significant differences between wild and artificially bred green turtles in bacterial and fungal compositions. The community of gut bacteria in artificially bred green turtles had a significantly higher abundance of Fusobacteriota including those belonging to the Paracoccus, Cetobacterium, and Fusobacterium genera than that of the wild green turtle. In contrast, the abundance of bacteria belonging to the phylum Actinobacteriota and genus Nautella significantly decreased. Regarding the fungal community, artificially bred green turtles had a significantly higher abundance of Fusarium, Sterigmatomyces, and Acremonium and a lower abundance of Candida and Rhodotorula than the wild green turtle. The PICRUSt2 analyses demonstrated significant differences in the functions of the gut bacterial flora between groups, particularly in carbohydrate and energy metabolism. Fungal functional guild analysis further revealed that the functions of the intestinal fungal flora of wild and artificially bred green turtles differed significantly in terms of animal pathogens-endophytes-lichen parasites-plant pathogens-soil saprotrophs-wood saprotrophs. BugBase analysis revealed significant potential pathogenicity and stress tolerance variations between wild and artificially bred green turtles. Collectively, this study elucidates the distinctive characteristics of gut microbiota in wild and artificially bred green turtles while evaluating their health status. These findings offer valuable scientific insights for releasing artificially bred green turtles and other artificially bred wildlife into natural habitats.