Cultivable Gut Microbiota in Synanthropic Bats: Shifts of Its Composition and Diversity Associated with Hibernation ...

• Main Authors: Popov, Igor V., Berezinskaia, Iraida S., Popov, Ilia V., Martiusheva, Irina B., Tkacheva, Elizaveta V., Gorobets, Vladislav E., Tikhmeneva, Iuliia A., Aleshukina, Anna V., Tverdokhlebova, Tatiana I., Chikindas, Michael L., Venema, Koen, Ermakov, Alexey M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2023
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Nyctalus noctula
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13435379; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13435379

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) The role of bats in the global microbial ecology no doubt is significant due to their unique immune responses, ability to fly, and long lifespan, all contributing to pathogen spread. Some of these animals hibernate during winter, which results in the altering of their physiology. However, gut microbiota shifts during hibernation is little studied. In this research, we studied cultivable gut microbiota composition and diversity of Nyctalus noctula before, during, and after hibernation in a bat rehabilitation center. Gut microorganisms were isolated on a broad spectrum of culture media, counted, and identified with mass spectrometry. Linear modeling was used to investigate associations between microorganism abundance and N. noctula physiological status, and alpha- and beta-diversity indexes were used to explore diversity changes. As a result, most notable changes were observed in Serratia liquefaciens, Hafnia alvei, Staphylococcus sciuri, and Staphylococcus ...