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Analysis of the bacterial diversity in the fecal material of the endangered Yangtze finless porpoise, Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the bacteria present in the fecal material of the endangered Yangtze finless porpoise, Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis. Fecal samples were collected from 12 Yangtze finless porpoises living in the wild at Poyang Lake, located in Jiangxi Province, China. To determine the bacterial diversity, a 16S rRNA gene clone library using the bacterial PCR primers fD1 and rP2, was prepared. A total of 138 near-full-length sequences were analyzed and 39 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified. Sequences showing ≥97% similarity were grouped together as an OTU. Six different phyla were identified in which 38 OTUs were classified. Most of the OTUs contained sequences belonged to the phylum Firmicutes (51.3%), followed by Tenericutes (17.9%), Proteobacteria (15.4%), Actinobacteria (7.7%), Deinococcus-Thermus (2.6%) and Cyanobacteria (2.6%). A phylum could not be assigned for one clone within one OTU (2.6%). It appears that the Yangtze finless porpoise has a more diverse range of bacteria compared to other aquatic mammals, such as seals.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Bonnie Bratina, from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, for reviewing the manuscript and for her very helpful insights. We also thank Dr. Hao Y.J., Miss Guo A.H., and Mr. Wang J.Z for help in fecal sample collection. The experimental work was conducted in the molecular laboratory of Research Group on Conservation Biology of Aquatic Animals at the Institute of Hydrobiology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This project was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30730018, 31000168), and the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2007CB411600).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Richard William McLaughlin, MinMin Chen, JinSong Zheng, QingZhong Zhao & Ding Wang

  2. Biology Department, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, 700 Terrace Heights, Winona, MN, 55987–1399, USA

    Richard William McLaughlin

  3. Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China

    MinMin Chen

  4. The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China

    JinSong Zheng, QingZhong Zhao & Ding Wang

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  1. Richard William McLaughlin
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Correspondence to JinSong Zheng.

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McLaughlin, R.W., Chen, M., Zheng, J. et al. Analysis of the bacterial diversity in the fecal material of the endangered Yangtze finless porpoise, Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis . Mol Biol Rep 39, 5669–5676 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1375-0

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