A Comparative Study on the Faecal Bacterial Community and Potential Zoonotic Bacteria of Muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) in Northeast Greenland, Northwest Greenland and Norway

Source at https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms6030076 . Muskoxen ( Ovibos moschatus ) are ruminants adapted to a high-fibre diet. There is increasing interest in the role that gut microbes play in the digestion and utilization of these specialized diets but only limited data available on the gut m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microorganisms
Main Authors: Andersen-Ranberg, Emilie, Barnes, Christopher J, Rasmussen, Linett, Salgado-Flores, Alejandro, Grøndahl, Carsten, Mosbacher, Jesper Bruun, Hansen, Anders J., Sundset, Monica Alterskjær, Schmidt, Niels Martin, Christian, Sonne
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2018
Subjects:
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Basic biosciences: 470
VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Basale biofag: 470
Ovibos moschatus
muskoxen
Arctic
zoonoses
16S rRNA
metabarcoding
faecal bacterial community
Canada
Greenland
Norway
East Greenland
ovibos moschatus
Alaska
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10037/14027
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms6030076
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Summary:Source at https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms6030076 . Muskoxen ( Ovibos moschatus ) are ruminants adapted to a high-fibre diet. There is increasing interest in the role that gut microbes play in the digestion and utilization of these specialized diets but only limited data available on the gut microbiome of high-Arctic animals. In this study, we metabarcoded the 16S rRNA region of faecal samples from muskoxen of Northeast Greenland, Northwest Greenland and Norway, and quantified the effects of physiological and temporal factors on bacterial composition. We found significant effects of body mass, year of sampling and location on the gut bacterial communities of North East Greenland muskoxen. These effects were however dwarfed by the effects of location, emphasizing the importance of the local ecology on the gut bacterial community. Habitat alterations and rising temperatures may therefore have a considerable impact on muskoxen health and reproductive success. Moreover, muskoxen are hunted and consumed in Greenland, Canada and Alaska; therefore, this study also screened for potential zoonoses of food safety interest. A total of 13 potentially zoonotic genera were identified, including the genera Erysipelothrix and Yersinia implicated in recent mass die-offs of the muskoxen themselves.

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