Abstract

  The microbiota of the digestive system have recently been at the heart of many studies. Most of these studies dealt with the human digestive tract, e.g. the effect of different types of microbiota on physical and mental health. The objective of this study was to identify the bacterial and fungal populations in the digestive system of common desert invertebrates of different trophic levels. As a preliminary study, we collected four invertebrates that share the same habitat in a desert system in the northern Negev, Israel, over a period of one year. The organisms in which gastrointestinal microbiota were determined included Scorpio palmatus, Adesmia dilatata, Sphincherochila zonata and Hemilepistus reaumuri. Microbial diversity was determined by sequencing DNA harvested from their digestive system. Of a total of 32 orders of bacteria, 26 were present in S. maurus, 22 in S. zonata, 14 in A. dilitata and 8 in H. reaumuri. A significant difference in bacterial diversity was found between S. zonata and A. dilatata. The present study elucidates the importance of the feeding habitat and trophic structure to the microbiotic diversity of the digestive system.

Keywords: Microbiota; Digestive System; Unpredictable Food Source; Extreme Habitat; Diversity

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Citation

Citation: Yosef Steinberger., et al. “A Preliminary Study on Desert Invertebrate Gut - A Metagenomic Evaluation of Bacteria Community". Acta Scientific Microbiology 3.9 (2020): 128-136.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Yosef Steinberger., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.