The invasive red-eared slider turtle is more successful than the native Chinese three-keeled pond turtle: evidence from the gut microbiota

• Published in: PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) Vol. 8; p. e10271
• Main Authors: Qu, Yan-Fu, Wu, Yan-Qing, Zhao, Yu-Tian, Lin, Long-Hui, Du, Yu, Li, Peng, Li, Hong, Ji, Xiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States PeerJ. Ltd 29-10-2020; PeerJ, Inc; PeerJ Inc
• Subjects: Abundance; Analysis; Bacteroidaceae; Bacteroidetes; Biodiversity; Caretta caretta; Chelonia mydas; Chinemys reevesii; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Ecology; EDTA; Firmicutes; Food; Genomes; Genomics; Gut microbial diversity; Gut microbiota; Information processing; Intestinal microflora; Invasive species; Lachnospiraceae; Microbiology; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Molecular Biology; Native species; Nonnative species; Pelodiscus sinensis; Physiological aspects; Ponds; Porphyromonadaceae; Reptiles & amphibians; RNA; rRNA 16S; Species; Symbiosis; Taxonomy; Trachemys scripta elegans; Turtles; Zoology; China; Gut microbiota; Turtle; Invasive species; Trachemys scripta elegans; Chinemys reevesii; Gut microbial diversity; Native species
• ISSN: 2167-8359; 2167-8359
• DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10271

The mutualistic symbiosis between the gut microbial communities (microbiota) and their host animals has attracted much attention. Many factors potentially affect the gut microbiota, which also varies among host animals. The native Chinese three-keeled pond turtle (
) and the invasive red-eared slider turtle (
) are two common farm-raised species in China, with the latter generally considered a more successful species. However, supporting evidence from the gut microbiota has yet to be collected.
We collected feces samples from these two turtle species raised in a farm under identical conditions, and analyzed the composition and relative abundance of the gut microbes using bacterial 16S rRNA sequencing on the Roach/454 platform.
The gut microbiota was mainly composed of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes at the phylum level, and Porphyromonadaceae, Bacteroidaceae and Lachnospiraceae at the family level in both species. The relative abundance of the microbes and gene functions in the gut microbiota differed between the two species, whereas alpha or beta diversity did not. Microbes of the families Bacteroidaceae, Clostridiaceae and Lachnospiraceae were comparatively more abundant in
, whereas those of the families Porphyromonadaceae and Fusobacteriaceae were comparatively more abundant in
. In both species the gut microbiota had functional roles in enhancing metabolism, genetic information processing and environmental information processing according to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database. The potential to gain mass is greater in
than in
, as revealed by the fact that the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was lower in the former species. The percentage of human disease-related functional genes was lower in
than in
, presumably suggesting an enhanced potential to colonize new habitats in the former species.