School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia.
Microbiologyopen. 2013 Feb;2(1):195-204. doi: 10.1002/mbo3.66. Epub 2013 Jan 25.
Despite the enormous amount of data available on the importance of the gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota in vertebrate (especially mammals), information on the GI microbiota of seabirds remains incomplete. As with many seabirds, penguins have a unique digestive physiology that enables them to store large reserves of adipose tissue, protein, and lipids. This study used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing to characterize the interspecific variations of the GI microbiota of four penguin species: the king, gentoo, macaroni, and little penguin. The qPCR results indicated that there were significant differences in the abundance of the major phyla Firmicutes, Bacteroides, Actinobacteria, and Proteobacteria. A total of 132,340, 18,336, 6324, and 4826 near full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences were amplified from fecal samples collected from king, gentoo, macaroni, and little penguins, respectively. A total of 13 phyla were identified with Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Fusobacteria dominating the composition; however, there were major differences in the relative abundance of the phyla. In addition, this study documented the presence of known human pathogens, such as Campylobacter, Helicobacter, Prevotella, Veillonella, Erysipelotrichaceae, Neisseria, and Mycoplasma. However, their role in disease in penguins remains unknown. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide an in-depth investigation of the GI microbiota of penguins.
尽管关于脊椎动物（尤其是哺乳动物）胃肠道（GI）微生物群的重要性有大量数据，但有关海鸟 GI 微生物群的信息仍然不完整。与许多海鸟一样，企鹅具有独特的消化生理机能，使它们能够储存大量的脂肪组织、蛋白质和脂质。本研究使用定量实时聚合酶链反应（qPCR）和 16S rRNA 基因焦磷酸测序技术，对四种企鹅物种（王企鹅、阿德利企鹅、麦哲伦企鹅和小企鹅）的 GI 微生物群的种间变异进行了特征描述。qPCR 结果表明，主要菌群厚壁菌门、拟杆菌门、放线菌门和变形菌门的丰度存在显著差异。从王企鹅、阿德利企鹅、麦哲伦企鹅和小企鹅的粪便样本中分别扩增出了 132340、18336、6324 和 4826 个全长 16S rRNA 基因序列。共鉴定出 13 个门，厚壁菌门、拟杆菌门、变形菌门和梭杆菌门占主导地位；然而，门的相对丰度存在很大差异。此外，本研究还记录了已知的人类病原体，如弯曲菌、幽门螺旋杆菌、普雷沃氏菌、韦荣球菌、消化链球菌科、奈瑟菌和支原体的存在。然而，它们在企鹅疾病中的作用尚不清楚。据我们所知，这是首次对企鹅的 GI 微生物群进行深入调查。
