Gut bacterial communities in roadkill animals: A pioneering study of two species in the Amazon region in Ecuador

Manuel Alejandro Coba-Males; Magdalena Díaz; C. Alfonso Molina; Pablo Medrano-Vizcaíno; David Brito-Zapata; Sarah Martin-Solano; Sofía Ocaña-Mayorga; Gabriel Alberto Carrillo-Bilbao; Wilmer Narváez; Jazzmín Arrivillaga-Henríquez; Manuela González-Suárez; Sandra Enríquez; Ana Poveda

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0313263

Gut bacterial communities in roadkill animals: A pioneering study of two species in the Amazon region in Ecuador

Manuel Alejandro Coba-Males, Magdalena Díaz, C. Alfonso Molina, Pablo Medrano-Vizcaíno, David Brito-Zapata, Sarah Martin-Solano, Sofía Ocaña-Mayorga, Gabriel Alberto Carrillo-Bilbao, Wilmer Narváez, Jazzmín Arrivillaga-Henríquez, Manuela González-Suárez, Sandra Enríquez^*, Ana Poveda^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Studying the microbial communities within the gastrointestinal tract of vertebrate species can provide insights into biodiversity, disease ecology, and conservation. Currently, we have very limited understanding of the composition of endogenous microbiota in wildlife, particularly in high biodiversity tropical areas. Knowledge is limited by the logistical and ethical challenges of obtaining samples for free-living animals. Roadkill carcasses offer a largely untapped source for biological material, including endogenous gut microbiota. These animals that have died on roads due to collisions with vehicles are suitable for accessible, opportunistic sampling. Here, we used metabarcoding for the V₃—V₄ region of the 16S rRNA gene in gut samples of nine roadkill samples collected from a road in Ecuador representing two vertebrate species: the speckled worm lizard (Amphisbaena bassleri) and the smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani). We successfully identify microbial phyla in both samples including Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria for A. bassleri, and Firmicutes and Actinobacteria for C. ani. Our study provides the first description of the gut microbiota for these two vertebrates, and demonstrates the feasibility of studying endogenous microbial communities from roadkill material that can be opportunistically collected and preserved in biobanks.

Original language	English
Article number	e0313263
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	19
Issue number	12 December
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313263
State	Published - Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Coba-Males et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding

Corporaci\u00F3n Ecuatoriana para el Desarrollo de la Investigaci\u00F3n y Academia - CEDIA (through its CEPRA-XVI-2022 program to AP), as part of the project titled \u201CEstudio de par\u00E1sitos y microbioma de fauna silvestre en dos de las zonas m\u00E1s biodiversas del planeta: Los Andes Tropicales y Choc\u00F3-Dari\u00E9n en Ecuador\u201D fund (https://cedia. edu.ec/servicio/fondo-idi-universidades/cepra-xvi-2022/). Direcci\u00F3n de Investigaci\u00F3n de la Universidad Central del Ecuador for the Proyecto Senior 2021 fund under project DI-CONV-2021-16 to WN (https://www.uce.edu.ec/web/di). The University of Reading for Seed Funding from the School of Biological Sciences an International PhD studentship to Pablo Medrano-Vizca\u00EDno (ref GS19-042). We thank to the Corporaci\u00F3n Ecuatoriana para el Desarrollo de la Investigaci\u00F3n y Academia\u2014CEDIA for providing us access to the cluster HPC CEDIA, which was essential for conducting the bioinformatics analyses in the context of this study.

Funders	Funder number
Corporación Ecuatoriana para el Desarrollo de la Investigación y la Academia	CEPRA-XVI-2022
Los Andes Tropicales y Chocó-Darién en Ecuador	-2022/
Universidad Central del Ecuador	GS19-042, DI-CONV-2021-16

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1371/journal.pone.0313263

Cite this

Coba-Males, M. A., Díaz, M., Molina, C. A., Medrano-Vizcaíno, P., Brito-Zapata, D., Martin-Solano, S., Ocaña-Mayorga, S., Carrillo-Bilbao, G. A., Narváez, W., Arrivillaga-Henríquez, J., González-Suárez, M., Enríquez, S., & Poveda, A. (2024). Gut bacterial communities in roadkill animals: A pioneering study of two species in the Amazon region in Ecuador. PLoS ONE, 19(12 December), Article e0313263. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313263

@article{0ad8fbfacaa645b583af3a9f67c2bbd3,

title = "Gut bacterial communities in roadkill animals: A pioneering study of two species in the Amazon region in Ecuador",

abstract = "Studying the microbial communities within the gastrointestinal tract of vertebrate species can provide insights into biodiversity, disease ecology, and conservation. Currently, we have very limited understanding of the composition of endogenous microbiota in wildlife, particularly in high biodiversity tropical areas. Knowledge is limited by the logistical and ethical challenges of obtaining samples for free-living animals. Roadkill carcasses offer a largely untapped source for biological material, including endogenous gut microbiota. These animals that have died on roads due to collisions with vehicles are suitable for accessible, opportunistic sampling. Here, we used metabarcoding for the V3—V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene in gut samples of nine roadkill samples collected from a road in Ecuador representing two vertebrate species: the speckled worm lizard (Amphisbaena bassleri) and the smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani). We successfully identify microbial phyla in both samples including Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria for A. bassleri, and Firmicutes and Actinobacteria for C. ani. Our study provides the first description of the gut microbiota for these two vertebrates, and demonstrates the feasibility of studying endogenous microbial communities from roadkill material that can be opportunistically collected and preserved in biobanks.",

author = "Coba-Males, {Manuel Alejandro} and Magdalena D{\'i}az and Molina, {C. Alfonso} and Pablo Medrano-Vizca{\'i}no and David Brito-Zapata and Sarah Martin-Solano and Sof{\'i}a Oca{\~n}a-Mayorga and Carrillo-Bilbao, {Gabriel Alberto} and Wilmer Narv{\'a}ez and Jazzm{\'i}n Arrivillaga-Henr{\'i}quez and Manuela Gonz{\'a}lez-Su{\'a}rez and Sandra Enr{\'i}quez and Ana Poveda",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 Coba-Males et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.",

year = "2024",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0313263",

language = "English",

volume = "19",

journal = "PLoS ONE",

issn = "1932-6203",

number = "12 December",

}

Coba-Males, MA, Díaz, M, Molina, CA, Medrano-Vizcaíno, P, Brito-Zapata, D, Martin-Solano, S, Ocaña-Mayorga, S, Carrillo-Bilbao, GA, Narváez, W, Arrivillaga-Henríquez, J, González-Suárez, M, Enríquez, S & Poveda, A 2024, 'Gut bacterial communities in roadkill animals: A pioneering study of two species in the Amazon region in Ecuador', PLoS ONE, vol. 19, no. 12 December, e0313263. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313263

TY - JOUR

T1 - Gut bacterial communities in roadkill animals

T2 - A pioneering study of two species in the Amazon region in Ecuador

AU - Coba-Males, Manuel Alejandro

AU - Díaz, Magdalena

AU - Molina, C. Alfonso

AU - Medrano-Vizcaíno, Pablo

AU - Brito-Zapata, David

AU - Martin-Solano, Sarah

AU - Ocaña-Mayorga, Sofía

AU - Carrillo-Bilbao, Gabriel Alberto

AU - Narváez, Wilmer

AU - Arrivillaga-Henríquez, Jazzmín

AU - González-Suárez, Manuela

AU - Enríquez, Sandra

AU - Poveda, Ana

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Coba-Males et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2024/12

Y1 - 2024/12

N2 - Studying the microbial communities within the gastrointestinal tract of vertebrate species can provide insights into biodiversity, disease ecology, and conservation. Currently, we have very limited understanding of the composition of endogenous microbiota in wildlife, particularly in high biodiversity tropical areas. Knowledge is limited by the logistical and ethical challenges of obtaining samples for free-living animals. Roadkill carcasses offer a largely untapped source for biological material, including endogenous gut microbiota. These animals that have died on roads due to collisions with vehicles are suitable for accessible, opportunistic sampling. Here, we used metabarcoding for the V3—V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene in gut samples of nine roadkill samples collected from a road in Ecuador representing two vertebrate species: the speckled worm lizard (Amphisbaena bassleri) and the smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani). We successfully identify microbial phyla in both samples including Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria for A. bassleri, and Firmicutes and Actinobacteria for C. ani. Our study provides the first description of the gut microbiota for these two vertebrates, and demonstrates the feasibility of studying endogenous microbial communities from roadkill material that can be opportunistically collected and preserved in biobanks.

AB - Studying the microbial communities within the gastrointestinal tract of vertebrate species can provide insights into biodiversity, disease ecology, and conservation. Currently, we have very limited understanding of the composition of endogenous microbiota in wildlife, particularly in high biodiversity tropical areas. Knowledge is limited by the logistical and ethical challenges of obtaining samples for free-living animals. Roadkill carcasses offer a largely untapped source for biological material, including endogenous gut microbiota. These animals that have died on roads due to collisions with vehicles are suitable for accessible, opportunistic sampling. Here, we used metabarcoding for the V3—V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene in gut samples of nine roadkill samples collected from a road in Ecuador representing two vertebrate species: the speckled worm lizard (Amphisbaena bassleri) and the smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani). We successfully identify microbial phyla in both samples including Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria for A. bassleri, and Firmicutes and Actinobacteria for C. ani. Our study provides the first description of the gut microbiota for these two vertebrates, and demonstrates the feasibility of studying endogenous microbial communities from roadkill material that can be opportunistically collected and preserved in biobanks.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85213725435&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0313263

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0313263

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85213725435

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 19

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

IS - 12 December

M1 - e0313263

ER -

Gut bacterial communities in roadkill animals: A pioneering study of two species in the Amazon region in Ecuador

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this