The Gut of Geographically Disparate Ciona intestinalis Harbors a Core Microbiota
Ciona intestinalis
basal chordate
classic developmental model
not a protected animal
easy to manipulate to obtain experimental data
bacteria
in the gut of many animals #
complex interactions with animals #
Aim to define relationship
Experiment
Used 3 populations of chordate #
Mission Bay, San Diego
Naples, Italy
Cape Cod Canal Basin
2 variables
Not starved chordates
Process upon arrival
Starved chordates
Went to sterile containers with filtered seawater
Room temperature
Complete water changes
Held 72 to 96 hours
16S rRNA gene PCR
Specific software used to organize OTUs
Ribosomal Database Project
Results
Found 9700 unique OTUs
12 were most abundant compose of 8 bacteria phyla
12 of most abundant OTUS took up no less than half of the microbial diversity
8 bacteria phyla common in gut
Differences between variables
Only in percentages of phyla
Minimal overall
Part of plankton community
Some bacteria for communities in gut mucus layer
Bacteroidetes
Verrucomicrobia
Fuscobacteria
Cyanobacteria
Epsilonproteobacteria
Deltaproteobacteria
Alphaproteobacteria
Gammaproteobacteria
Host microbial interdependencies
Filter feeding