The invasive red-eared slider turtle is more successful than the native Chinese three-keeled pond turtle: evidence from the gut microbiota

Abstract

The gut microbiota was mainly composed of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes at the phylum level, and Porphyromonadaceae, Bacteroidaceae and Lachnospiraceae at the family level in both species. The relative abundance of the microbes and gene functions in the gut microbiota differed between the two species, whereas alpha or beta diversity did not. Microbes of the families Bacteroidaceae, Clostridiaceae and Lachnospiraceae were comparatively more abundant in <i>C. reevesii</i>, whereas those of the families Porphyromonadaceae and Fusobacteriaceae were comparatively more abundant in <i>T. s. elegans</i>. In both species the gut microbiota had functional roles in enhancing metabolism, genetic information processing and environmental information processing according to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database. The potential to gain mass is greater in <i>T. s. elegans</i> than in <i>C. reevesii</i>, as revealed by the fact that the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was lower in the former species. The percentage of human disease-related functional genes was lower in <i>T. s. elegans</i> than in <i>C. reevesii</i>, presumably suggesting an enhanced potential to colonize new habitats in the former species.