First metagenomic analysis of the Andean condor ( Vultur gryphus ) gut microbiome reveals microbial diversity and wide resistome

PeerJ

article

J. Eduardo Martinez-Hernandez¹  Pablo Berrios³  Rodrigo Santibáñez¹  Yesid Cuesta Astroz⁴  Carolina Sanchez⁵  Alberto J. M. Martin¹  Annette N. Trombert³ 

[1] Laboratorio de Redes Biológicas, Centro Científico y Tecnológico de Excelencia Ciencia & Vida, Fundación Ciencia & Vida;CGNA ,(Agriaquaculture Nutritional Genomic Center);Escuela de Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias, Ingeniería y Tecnología, Universidad Mayor;Instituto Colombiano de Medicina Tropical, Universidad CES;Centro de Oncología de Precisión, Escuela de Medicina, Universidad Mayor;Advanced Genomics Core, Universidad Mayor;Escuela de Ingeniería, Facultad de Ingeniería, Arquitectura y Diseño, Universidad San Sebastián

关键词: Andean condor;    Metagenomics;    Gut microbiome;    Clostridium perfringens;    Virulome;    Resistome;    Antibiotic resistance;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.15235

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is the largest scavenger in South America. This predatory bird plays a crucial role in their ecological niche by removing carcasses. We report the first metagenomic analysis of the Andean condor gut microbiome. Methods This work analyzed shotgun metagenomics data from a mixture of fifteen captive Chilean Andean condors. To filter eukaryote contamination, we employed BWA-MEM v0.7. Taxonomy assignment was performed using Kraken2 and MetaPhlAn v2.0 and all filtered reads were assembled using IDBA-UD v1.1.3. The two most abundant species were used to perform a genome reference-guided assembly using MetaCompass. Finally, we performed a gene prediction using Prodigal and each gene predicted was functionally annotated. InterproScan v5.31-70.0 was additionally used to detect homology based on protein domains and KEGG mapper software for reconstructing metabolic pathways. Results Our results demonstrate concordance with the other gut microbiome data from New World vultures. In the Andean condor, Firmicutes was the most abundant phylum present, with Clostridium perfringens, a potentially pathogenic bacterium for other animals, as dominating species in the gut microbiome. We assembled all reads corresponding to the top two species found in the condor gut microbiome, finding between 94% to 98% of completeness for Clostridium perfringens and Plesiomonas shigelloides, respectively. Our work highlights the ability of the Andean condor to act as an environmental reservoir and potential vector for critical priority pathogens which contain relevant genetic elements. Among these genetic elements, we found 71 antimicrobial resistance genes and 1,786 virulence factors that we associated with several adaptation processes.

【 授权许可】

CC BY