Comparative Analysis of Faecal Bacteria in Captive Asian Elephants of Various Age Groups and Musth

Abstract

Study of gut microbiome is an emerging area in modern research with over one trillion population is known to inhabit the gut of organisms. The gut microbiome constitutes bacteria, viruses, protozoa and fungi and their collective genetic material present in the gastrointestinal tract. It is an essential part of a species’ ecology and influenced by the diet and phylogeny of the host. Most studies on the significance of gut microbiota and its association with physiology were done in humans than animals, and even fewer in elephants. Here in this study, we ventured to study the diversity of faecal bacteria of elephants of various age groups and musth. Bacteriological analysis of faecal samples from elephants of various age groups and musth were done and a total viable count was determined. Bacterial colonies obtained from elephant faecal samples of various age groups and musth were identified employing 16S rDNA sequencing. Here we evolved a PCR based strategy to amplify partial gene which encodes 16S rRNA was sequenced and the sequence obtained was analyzed by NCBI BLAST to identify these bacterial strains. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Lactococcus lactis and Staphylococcus arlettae were the major species of bacteria identified from the samples of captive elephants, of which, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an opportunistic pathogen that dominates in all the age groups. Lactococcus lactis is the major bacteria in the fecal samples of four years old elephant (Juvenile) and found to constitute nearly 68%. Fecal samples collected from 25 years old constitute Stenotrophomonas maltophilia as the major bacteria (73%) followed by Lactococcus lactis while 45 years old showed the higher occurrence of Staphylococcus arlettae followed by Lactococcus lactis. Elephant of the very old age group (84 years) showed high diversity in the fecal bacteria with Stenotrophomonas maltophilia dominating in this group (72%). Elephant in musth, a condition characterized by the high level of testosterone, temporal secretion and high gastric acidity was shown the dominance of acidophilic Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in the gut while alkalophilic Lactococcus lactis which was prevalent in other groups was not detected in musth condition.