Mohd-Yusof Nur Syafika, Abdul-Latiff Muhammad Abu Bakar, Mohd-Ridwan Abd Rahman, Badrulisham Aqilah Sakinah, Othman Nursyuhada, Yaakop Salmah, Md-Nor Shukor, Md-Zain Badrul Munir
Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Malaysia.
Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (Pagoh Campus), KM1 Jalan Panchor 84600, Muar, Johor, Malaysia Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (Pagoh Campus), KM1 Jalan Panchor 84600 Muar, Johor Malaysia.
Biodivers Data J. 2022 Mar 22;10:e69631. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.10.e69631. eCollection 2022.
Flying fox () belongs to the frugivorous bats, which play a crucial role in maintaining proper functioning of an ecosystem and conservation of the environment. Bats are well-known carriers of pathogenic viruses, such as BatCov RaTG13 from the coronavirus family that share 90.55% with SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen causing recent global pandemic coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). However, bats' possible role as a carrier of pathogenic bacteria is less explored. Here, using metabarcoding analysis through high-throughput sequencing, we explored the gut microbiome composition of different island populations on the east and west coasts of Peninsula Malaysia. The rRNA gene in samples from Redang Island, Langkawi Island, Pangkor Island and Tinggi Island was amplified. Bacterial community composition and structure were analysed with α and β diversity metrics. A total of 25,658 operational taxonomic units at 97% similarity were assigned to eight phyla, 44 families, 61 genera and 94 species of microbes. The Proteobacteria was the dominant phylum in all populations. Meanwhile, the genera , and , isolated in this study, were previously found in the rectum of other fruit bats. Our analyses suggest that Redang Island and Langkawi Island have high bacteria diversity. Thus, we found geographic locality is a strong predictor of microbial community composition and observed a positive correlation between ecological features and bacterial richness.
飞狐（）属于食果蝙蝠，在维持生态系统的正常功能和环境保护方面发挥着关键作用。蝙蝠是众所周知的致病病毒携带者，例如冠状病毒家族中的蝙蝠冠状病毒RaTG13，它与导致近期全球大流行的冠状病毒病19（COVID-19）的病原体严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）有90.55%的序列相似性。然而，蝙蝠作为致病细菌携带者的潜在作用研究较少。在此，我们通过高通量测序的宏条形码分析，探究了马来西亚半岛东西海岸不同岛屿种群的肠道微生物群组成。我们扩增了热浪岛、兰卡威岛、邦咯岛和丁宜岛样本中的16S rRNA基因。用α和β多样性指标分析细菌群落组成和结构。总共25658个相似度为97%的可操作分类单元被归类为8个门、44个科、61个属和94种微生物。变形菌门是所有种群中的优势门。同时，本研究中分离出的属、属和属，此前在其他果蝠的直肠中也有发现。我们的分析表明，热浪岛和兰卡威岛的细菌多样性较高。因此，我们发现地理位置是微生物群落组成的一个强有力的预测指标，并观察到生态特征与细菌丰富度之间存在正相关。
