Exploring Diversity: A Comprehensive Analysis of Core Microbial Communities in Chiroptera

Presenter

Sneha Magesh

Campus

UMass Amherst

Sponsor

Jason M. Kamilar, Department of Anthropology, UMass Amherst

Schedule

Session 1, 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board A68, Campus Center Auditorium, Row 4 (A61-A80) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

Information about microbial taxa can help researchers understand community composition and how they may respond to ecological challenges. This project will investigate the microbial taxa that constitute the core microbiome of various body regions of straw colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) at Kasanka National Park, Zambia. The core microbiome is defined as related microbes represented in a sample of observed habits. Currently, there is a lack of research about what microbes comprise the core microbiome of many organisms, including bats.

We obtained 107 swab samples from four body regions (rectal, oral, skin, and hair) of straw colored fruit bats at Kasanka National Park during November 2022. Samples were stored in DNA/RNA Shield and subsequently frozen at -20C in the Comparative Primatology Lab at UMass Amherst. DNA extraction was performed using a Qiagen Powerfecal kit and DNA concentrations were quantified using a Qubit 3. The V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified according to the Earth Microbiome Protocol and was sequenced using a MiSeq with a V3 kit at the UMass Genomics Resource Laboratory. A bioinformatics pipeline using QIIME2 was used to quantify the relative abundance of microbial amplicon sequence variants. This was followed by additional analyses to quantify the core microbiome. 

Our results will help inform us about the microbiomes of wild fruit bats and how they compare to better known microbial communities associated with humans and other primates.

Keywords

Anthropology, Bat, DNA Analysis

Research Area

Biological Organisms

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