The microbiome of a striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded in Portugal

Infectious diseases with epizootic consequences have not been fully studied in marine mammals. Presently, the unprecedented depth of sequencing, made available by high-throughput approaches, allows detailed comparisons of the microbiome in health and disease. This is the first report of the striped dolphin microbiome in different body sites. Samples from one striped female edematous dolphin were acquired from a variety of body niches, including the blowhole, oral cavity, oral mucosa, tongue, stomach, intestines and genital mucosa. Detailed 16S rRNA analysis of over half a million sequences identified 235 OTUs. Beta diversity analyses indicated that microbial communities vary in structure and cluster by sample origin. Pathogenic, Gram-negative, facultative and obligate anaerobic taxa were significantly detected, including Cetobacterium, Fusobacterhun and Ureaplasma. Phocoenobacter and Arcobacter dominated the oral-type samples, while Cardiobacteriaceae and Vibrio were associated with the blowhole and Photobacteriwn were abundant in the gut. We report for the first time the association of Epulopiscium with a marine mammal gut.The striped dolphin microbiota shows variation in structure and diversity according to the organ type. The high dominance of Gram-negative anaerobic pathogens evidences a cetacean microbiome affected by human-related bacteria. (C) 2016 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.This work was supported by project CetSenti RECI/AAG-GLO/0470/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027472), FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) and FEDER-COMPETE (POFC), the strategic program UID/BIA/04050/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007569) funded by national funds through the FCT I.P., by the ERDF through the COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI) and through PhD grants (SFRH/BD/76894/2011, SFRH/BD/98558/2013) attributed to P.S-C and C.S.M, respectively. The work was also supported by the FCT through CESAM UID/AMB/50017/2013 co-funded by the FCT/MEC and FEDER, within PT2020 and Compete 2020 (C.E.) and grants SFRH/BD/30240/2006 (M.F.) and SFRH/BPD/64889/2009 (A.M.).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio