Authors: Trine Glad Vibeke Fam Kristiansen Kaare M Nielsen Lorenzo Brusetti AndréDenis G Wright Monica A Sundset
Publish Date: 2010/06/04
Volume: 60, Issue: 2, Pages: 320-330
Abstract
Dominant colonic bacteria in wild hooded n = 9 harbour n = 1 and grey n = 1 seals were identified using 16S rRNA gene clone libraries 313 clones revealing 527 Bacteroidetes 415 Firmicutes 45 Proteobacteria and 10 Fusobacteria Thirty 77 of the 39 phylotypes identified were novel showing 97 sequence similarity to their nearest cultivated relatives Mean colonic bacterial cell density determined by realtime PCR was high 128 log10 cells/g wet wt for the hooded seals while the number of methanogenic Archea was low 40 log10 cells/g wet wt The level of ampicillin ampr and tetracyclineresistant tetr isolates was investigated by cultivation Aerobic ampr isolates were only detected in colon contents from four hooded seals whereas aerobic tetr isolates were found in seven of the nine hooded seals These data provide novel insight to the gut microbiota of Arctic and subArctic seals living in the wildThe authors wish to thank Prof Arnoldus Schytte Blix Prof Lars P Folkow and Prof KarlArne Stokkan at the Department of Arctic and Marine Biology University of Tromsø for the possibility to take part in the expedition to the Greenland Sea and for their advice and help throughout the expedition We also thank Prof Stokkan for sampling the harbour and grey seals at the coast of Northern Norway We are grateful to Dr Lise Norgård GenØkCentre for Biosafety Tromsø for assistance in the field collecting the hooded seal samples and Korinne Northwood at CSIRO Brisbane Australia for assistance with realtime PCR This study was funded by the Norwegian Research Council and the Roald Amundsen Centre for Arctic Research University of Tromsø Norway
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