Comparative analysis and characterization of the gut microbiota of four farmed snakes from southern China

Abstract

Background: The gut microbiota plays an important role in host immunity and metabolic homeostasis. Although analyses of gut microbiotas have been used to assess host health and foster disease prevention and treatment, no comparative comprehensive study, assessing gut microbiotas among several species of farmed snake, is yet available. In this study, we characterized and compared the gut microbiotas of four species of farmed snakes (Naja atra, Ptyas mucosa, Elaphe carinata, and Deinagkistrodon acutus) using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene in southern China and tested whether there was a relationship between gut microbiotal composition and host species. Results: A total of 629 operational taxonomic units across 22 samples were detected. The five most abundant phyla were Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, and Actinobacteria, while the five most abundant genera were Bacteroides, Cetobacterium, Clostridium, Plesiomonas, and Paeniclostridium. This was the first report of the dominance of Fusobacteria and Cetobacterium in the snake gut. Our phylogenetic analysis recovered a relatively close relationship between Fusobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Alpha diversity analysis indicated that species richness and diversity were highest in the gut microbiota of D. acutus and lowest in that of E. carinata. Significant differences in alpha diversity were detected among the four farmed snake species. The gut microbiotas of conspecifics were more similar to each other than to those of heterospecifics. Conclusion: This study provides the first comparative study of gut microbiotas among several species of farmed snakes, and provides valuable data for the management of farmed snakes. In farmed snakes, host species affected the species composition and diversity of the gut microbiota.