Does solar irradiation drive community assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas?

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Standard

Does solar irradiation drive community assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas? / Graves, Gary R.; Matterson, Kenan O.; Milensky, Christopher M.; Schmidt, Brian K.; O'Mahoney, Michael J.; Drovetski, Sergei.

In: BMC Animal Microbiome, Vol. 2, 24, 2020.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Graves, GR, Matterson, KO, Milensky, CM, Schmidt, BK, O'Mahoney, MJ & Drovetski, S 2020, 'Does solar irradiation drive community assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas?', BMC Animal Microbiome, vol. 2, 24. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-020-00043-7

APA

Graves, G. R., Matterson, K. O., Milensky, C. M., Schmidt, B. K., O'Mahoney, M. J., & Drovetski, S. (2020). Does solar irradiation drive community assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas? BMC Animal Microbiome, 2, [24]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-020-00043-7

Vancouver

Graves GR, Matterson KO, Milensky CM, Schmidt BK, O'Mahoney MJ, Drovetski S. Does solar irradiation drive community assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas? BMC Animal Microbiome. 2020;2. 24. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-020-00043-7

Author

Graves, Gary R. ; Matterson, Kenan O. ; Milensky, Christopher M. ; Schmidt, Brian K. ; O'Mahoney, Michael J. ; Drovetski, Sergei. / Does solar irradiation drive community assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas?. In: BMC Animal Microbiome. 2020 ; Vol. 2.

Bibtex

@article{3bb8f330224c4adca91045ac6286f27a,
title = "Does solar irradiation drive community assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas?",
abstract = "Background Stereotyped sunning behaviour in birds has been hypothesized to inhibit keratin-degrading bacteria but there is little evidence that solar irradiation affects community assembly and abundance of plumage microbiota. The monophyletic New World vultures (Cathartiformes) are renowned for scavenging vertebrate carrion, spread-wing sunning at roosts, and thermal soaring. Few avian species experience greater exposure to solar irradiation. We used 16S rRNA sequencing to investigate the plumage microbiota of wild individuals of five sympatric species of vultures in Guyana. Results The exceptionally diverse plumage microbiotas (631 genera of Bacteria and Archaea) were numerically dominated by bacterial genera resistant to ultraviolet (UV) light, desiccation, and high ambient temperatures, and genera known for forming desiccation-resistant endospores (phylum Firmicutes, order Clostridiales). The extremophile genera Deinococcus (phylum Deinococcus-Thermus) and Hymenobacter (phylum, Bacteroidetes), rare in vertebrate gut microbiotas, accounted for 9.1% of 2.7 million sequences (CSS normalized and log(2) transformed). Five bacterial genera known to exhibit strong keratinolytic capacities in vitro (Bacillus, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, and Streptomyces) were less abundant (totaling 4%) in vulture plumage. Conclusions Bacterial rank-abundance profiles from melanized vulture plumage have no known analog in the integumentary systems of terrestrial vertebrates. The prominence of UV-resistant extremophiles suggests that solar irradiation may play a significant role in the assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas. Our results highlight the need for controlled in vivo experiments to test the effects of UV on microbial communities of avian plumage.",
keywords = "Cathartiformes, Deinococcus, Extremophile, Keratin-degrading bacteria, Melanized plumage, New World vultures, Plumage microbiota, Solar irradiation, Spread-wing sunning, Ultraviolet (UV) light, FEATHER-DEGRADING BACILLI, NEW-WORLD VULTURES, ADAPTIVE SIGNIFICANCE, BACTERIAL DIVERSITY, BIRDS, LICHENIFORMIS, PERSPECTIVE, KERATINASES, PREVALENCE, INFERENCE",
author = "Graves, {Gary R.} and Matterson, {Kenan O.} and Milensky, {Christopher M.} and Schmidt, {Brian K.} and O'Mahoney, {Michael J.} and Sergei Drovetski",
year = "2020",
doi = "10.1186/s42523-020-00043-7",
language = "English",
volume = "2",
journal = "BMC Animal Microbiome",
issn = "2524-4671",
publisher = "BioMed Central",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Does solar irradiation drive community assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas?

AU - Graves, Gary R.

AU - Matterson, Kenan O.

AU - Milensky, Christopher M.

AU - Schmidt, Brian K.

AU - O'Mahoney, Michael J.

AU - Drovetski, Sergei

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Background Stereotyped sunning behaviour in birds has been hypothesized to inhibit keratin-degrading bacteria but there is little evidence that solar irradiation affects community assembly and abundance of plumage microbiota. The monophyletic New World vultures (Cathartiformes) are renowned for scavenging vertebrate carrion, spread-wing sunning at roosts, and thermal soaring. Few avian species experience greater exposure to solar irradiation. We used 16S rRNA sequencing to investigate the plumage microbiota of wild individuals of five sympatric species of vultures in Guyana. Results The exceptionally diverse plumage microbiotas (631 genera of Bacteria and Archaea) were numerically dominated by bacterial genera resistant to ultraviolet (UV) light, desiccation, and high ambient temperatures, and genera known for forming desiccation-resistant endospores (phylum Firmicutes, order Clostridiales). The extremophile genera Deinococcus (phylum Deinococcus-Thermus) and Hymenobacter (phylum, Bacteroidetes), rare in vertebrate gut microbiotas, accounted for 9.1% of 2.7 million sequences (CSS normalized and log(2) transformed). Five bacterial genera known to exhibit strong keratinolytic capacities in vitro (Bacillus, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, and Streptomyces) were less abundant (totaling 4%) in vulture plumage. Conclusions Bacterial rank-abundance profiles from melanized vulture plumage have no known analog in the integumentary systems of terrestrial vertebrates. The prominence of UV-resistant extremophiles suggests that solar irradiation may play a significant role in the assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas. Our results highlight the need for controlled in vivo experiments to test the effects of UV on microbial communities of avian plumage.

AB - Background Stereotyped sunning behaviour in birds has been hypothesized to inhibit keratin-degrading bacteria but there is little evidence that solar irradiation affects community assembly and abundance of plumage microbiota. The monophyletic New World vultures (Cathartiformes) are renowned for scavenging vertebrate carrion, spread-wing sunning at roosts, and thermal soaring. Few avian species experience greater exposure to solar irradiation. We used 16S rRNA sequencing to investigate the plumage microbiota of wild individuals of five sympatric species of vultures in Guyana. Results The exceptionally diverse plumage microbiotas (631 genera of Bacteria and Archaea) were numerically dominated by bacterial genera resistant to ultraviolet (UV) light, desiccation, and high ambient temperatures, and genera known for forming desiccation-resistant endospores (phylum Firmicutes, order Clostridiales). The extremophile genera Deinococcus (phylum Deinococcus-Thermus) and Hymenobacter (phylum, Bacteroidetes), rare in vertebrate gut microbiotas, accounted for 9.1% of 2.7 million sequences (CSS normalized and log(2) transformed). Five bacterial genera known to exhibit strong keratinolytic capacities in vitro (Bacillus, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, and Streptomyces) were less abundant (totaling 4%) in vulture plumage. Conclusions Bacterial rank-abundance profiles from melanized vulture plumage have no known analog in the integumentary systems of terrestrial vertebrates. The prominence of UV-resistant extremophiles suggests that solar irradiation may play a significant role in the assembly of vulture plumage microbiotas. Our results highlight the need for controlled in vivo experiments to test the effects of UV on microbial communities of avian plumage.

KW - Cathartiformes

KW - Deinococcus

KW - Extremophile

KW - Keratin-degrading bacteria

KW - Melanized plumage

KW - New World vultures

KW - Plumage microbiota

KW - Solar irradiation

KW - Spread-wing sunning

KW - Ultraviolet (UV) light

KW - FEATHER-DEGRADING BACILLI

KW - NEW-WORLD VULTURES

KW - ADAPTIVE SIGNIFICANCE

KW - BACTERIAL DIVERSITY

KW - BIRDS

KW - LICHENIFORMIS

KW - PERSPECTIVE

KW - KERATINASES

KW - PREVALENCE

KW - INFERENCE

U2 - 10.1186/s42523-020-00043-7

DO - 10.1186/s42523-020-00043-7

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33499993

VL - 2

JO - BMC Animal Microbiome

JF - BMC Animal Microbiome

SN - 2524-4671

M1 - 24

ER -

ID: 287062067