A Preliminary Comparison on Faecal Microbiomes of Free-Ranging Large Baleen (Balaenoptera musculus, B. physalus, B. borealis) and Toothed (Physeter macrocephalus) Whales

Large baleen and toothed whales play crucial ecological roles in oceans; nonetheless, very little is known about their intestinal microbiomes. Based on striking differences in natural history and thus in feeding behaviours, it can be expected that intestinal microbiomes of large baleen whales and to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microbial Ecology
Main Authors: Glaeser, Stefanie P., Silva, Liliana M. R., Prieto, Rui, Silva, Mónica A., Franco, Angel, Kämpfer, Peter, Hermosilla, Carlos, Taubert, Anja, Eisenberg, Tobias
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Balaenoptera musculus
baleen whales
Physeter macrocephalus
toothed whales
Online Access:https://zenodo.org/record/4957559
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-021-01729-4
Description
Summary:Large baleen and toothed whales play crucial ecological roles in oceans; nonetheless, very little is known about their intestinal microbiomes. Based on striking differences in natural history and thus in feeding behaviours, it can be expected that intestinal microbiomes of large baleen whales and toothed whales are different. To test this hypothesis, the phylogenetic composition of faecal microbiomes was investigated by a 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequence–based approach for Bacteria and Archaea. Faecal samples from free-ranging large whales collected off the Azores Archipelago (Portugal) were used, comprising 13 individual baleen whales (one sei, two blue and ten fin whales) and four sperm whales. The phylogenetic composition of the Bacteria faecal microbiomes of baleen and toothed whales showed no significant differences at the phylum level. However, significant differences were detected at the family and genus levels. Most abundant phyla were Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Tenericutes and Spirochaeta. Few highly abundant bacterial genera were identified as key taxa with a high contribution to differences among baleen and toothed whales microbiomes. Only few archaeal sequences were detected, primarily Methanomassiliicoccales representing potential methanogenic Archaea. This is the first study that directly compares the faecal bacterial and archaeal microbiomes of free-ranging baleen and toothed whales which represent the two parvorders of Cetacea which members are fully aquatic large mammals which were evolutionary split millions of years ago. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. RP is supported by FCT (SFRH/BPD/108007/2015) and MAS through SUMMER (H2020-EU.3.2.3.1, GA 817806). We also acknowledge funds provided by FCT to MARE and Okeanos through strategic projects UID/MAR/04292/2019, UIDB/05634/2020, respectively. Data collection in the Azores was funded by FRCT, FCT, FEDER, COMPETE, QREN ESF through TRACE-PTDC/MAR/74071/2006 and MAPCET-M2.1.2/F/012/2011.

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