Gut microbiota isolated from the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) and its antimicrobial resistance

Abstract

The aim of the study was to isolate cultivable gut microbiota from European pond turtles kept at the Lithuanian Zoo and to determine antimicrobial resistance of the isolates. The study subjects included 8 elderly turtles living at the Lithuanian Zoo for about 50 years as well as their offspring -24 young individuals (1-2 years old) that were hatched at the same zoo. Animals were not exposed by treatment with antimicrobials during the last 3 years.Gut samples were taken from the cloaca and inoculated onto universal media. Isolates then were identified using sequence analysis of 16S rRNA.The antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the agar diffusion method according to Kirby-Bauer. Clinical breakpoints according to CLSI whenever possible, were used for interpretation of susceptibility. Bacterial isolates resistant to at least three antimicrobials of different classes were treated as multi-resistant.Fifty-two bacterial isolates were obtained and identified from turtle gut samples. The most prevalent genera included Aeromonas, Chryseobacterium and Citrobacter. Fifty percent of the isolates obtained from elderly turtles (CI 95% -19.01-80.99) and 54.8% (CI 95% -39.75-69.85) of the isolates from young animals were identified as multi-resistant. The most common resistance rates of the isolates from both groups of the turtles were observed toward ampicillin (86.6%), ciprofloxacin (61.5%) and gentamicin (40.4%). The lowest number of resistant isolates were detected toward combination of sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (26.9%). The study revealed that European pond turtles kept in captivity are carriers of multi-resistant bacteria however, further studies need to be performed to investigate whether the resistant microorganisms are natural microbiota for this species or they were acquired in the zoo.

Composition and antimicrobial resistance profile of Gram‐negative microbiota prevalent in aquacultured fish

“…Recent studies in other water‐dwelling species (such as European pond turtles kept in captivity) demonstrated the occurrence of high quinolone‐resistance in Chryseobacterium , Citrobacter , and Aeromonas spp. (Ruzauskas et al, ). The genes encoding antimicrobial resistance (that usually are prevalent in clinically important strains) were detected in some of these isolates but mostly in Enterobacteriaceae.…”

An insight into the gut microbiology of wild-caught Mangrove Red Snapper, Lutjanus argentimaculatus (Forsskal, 1775)

“…Of these V. alginolyticus, P. damselae, V. parahaemolyticus are known fish pathogens and their presence in apparently healthy fish supports previous reports of these organisms as opportunistic pathogens in fish (Rivas et al, 2013;Chatterjee and Haldar, 2012). The other bacteria such as M. morganii (Kim et al, 2003;Ruzauskas et al, 2016), V. natriegens (Feng et al, 2011), S. haliotis (Kim et al, 2007), V. hepatarius (Thompson et al, 2003;Balcazar et al, 2006) and B. megaterium (Saha et al, 2006) are regarded as harmless bacteria in fish. Although P. agglomerans has been reported to be associated with terrestrial and aquatic animals (Walterson and Stavrinides, 2015), P. dispersa in gut of fish has not been described earlier.…”

Morphometric measurements of the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis)(L., 1758) in Lithuania

“…In Lithuania, the number of European pond turtles decreased between 1975 and 2010, but has increased significantly since 2010, when the LIFE project was implemented between 2010 and 2014. During this project, an ecological network was created, habitats were restored in protected areas, and nesting areas of the European pond turtle were protected from predators (Ruzauskas et al, 2016). One of the reasons for the successful recreation of European pond turtles was the implementation of a conservation programme: the turtles were taken from nature to the Lithuanian Zoological Gardens in Kaunas where all necessary help was provided to strengthen them; a year later, the juveniles were released back into nature (Ruzauskas et al, 2016).…”

“…During this project, an ecological network was created, habitats were restored in protected areas, and nesting areas of the European pond turtle were protected from predators (Ruzauskas et al, 2016). One of the reasons for the successful recreation of European pond turtles was the implementation of a conservation programme: the turtles were taken from nature to the Lithuanian Zoological Gardens in Kaunas where all necessary help was provided to strengthen them; a year later, the juveniles were released back into nature (Ruzauskas et al, 2016). From 2017 to 2021, the project 'Implementation of Nature Conservation and Management Measures by Preserving and Increasing the Populations of European Pond Turtles and European Fire-bellied Toad' was implemented by closely working with the Lithuanian Zoological Gardens in an attempt to conserve as many European pond turtles as possible.…”