Journal article
Gut microbiota in the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus Aculeatus) shows stability across gestation
Isini Buthgamuwa, Jane C Fenelon, Alice Roser, Haley Meer, Stephen D Johnston, Ashley M Dungan
MicrobiologyOpen | Wiley | Published : 2023
DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.1392
Abstract
Indigenous gut microbial communities (microbiota) play critical roles in health and may be especially important for the mother and fetus during pregnancy. Monotremes, such as the short-beaked echidna, have evolved to lay and incubate an egg, which hatches in their pouch where the young feeds. Since both feces and eggs pass through the cloaca, the fecal microbiota of female echidnas provides an opportunity for vertical transmission of microbes to their offspring. Here, we characterize the gut/fecal microbiome of female short-beaked echidnas and gain a better understanding of the changes that may occur in their microbiome as they go through pregnancy. Fecal samples from four female and five ma..
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Grants
Awarded by Environmental Microbiology Researcher Initiative Grant
Funding Acknowledgements
The echidnas whose fecal material was used in this study were originally collected from the lands of the Yugambeh People. We acknowledge their contributions to this research not only by way of these beautiful creatures but also through their Yarns built from lived experiences, ontologies, epistemologies, and axiologies. Indigenous Knowledge is the foundation of our learning and knowledge and has inspired and guided this research. We thank Prof. Marilyn Renfree for her advice during the planning phase and Laura Geissler for helping with graphics. This research was funded by an Environmental Microbiology Researcher Initiative Grant (to A. M. D.), the Australian Research Council (ARC LP160101728 to S. D. J.), and a Microbiology Australia Summer Scholarship (to I. B.).