Isolation and molecular identification of lactic acid bacteria and Bifidobacterium spp. from faeces of the blue-fronted Amazon parrot in Brazil

Abstract

In Brazil, the blue-fronted Amazon parrot (Amazona aestiva) is a common pet. The faecal microbiota of these birds include a wide variety of bacterial species, the majority of which belong to the Gram-positive lactic acid bacteria (LAB) clade. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in the diversity and abundance of LAB and Bifidobacterium spp. in the cloacae between wild and captive birds and to select, identify and characterise LAB for consideration as a parrot probiotic. Cloacal swabs were collected from 26 wild and 26 captive birds. Bacterial DNA was extracted, and the 16S rRNA genes were amplified. The numbers of PCR-positive Enterococcus, Pediococcus, and Lactobacillus species isolated from wild and captive birds were significantly different (P<0.05). Enterococcus was the most frequently isolated genus, followed by Pediococcus, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus and Bifidobacterium. Enterococcus faecium, Pediococcus pentosaceus, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus coryniformis, Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis and Bifidobacterium bifidum were the most frequently isolated species from all birds. This study increases our understanding of the faecal microbiota, and may help to improve the nutrition and habitat management of captive and wild parrots. The bacterial population identified in the faecal microbiota of clinically healthy wild and captive parrots can serve as a database to analyse variations in the gut microbiota of pathogen-infected parrots and to develop probiotics specific to these genera.

O USO DA MICROBIOLOGIA COMO FERRAMENTA PARA A CONSERVAÇÃO DE AVES AMEAÇADAS: DADOS PRELIMINARES PARA O PAPAGAIO-DE-CARA-ROXA, Amazona brasiliensis (Aves: Psittacidae) NO PARANÁ

“…A microbiota intestinal de Psittaciformes é constituída principalmente por bactérias Gram-positivas, podendo aqui destacar os principais gêneros: Lactobacillus spp., Bacillus spp., Corynebacterium spp., Streptomyces spp., Gaffkya spp., Aerococcus spp., Micrococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp., e Streptococcus spp. não hemolíticos (BANGERT et al, 1988;FLAMMER;DREWES, 1988;MARIETTO--GONÇALVES et al, 2010;ALLEGRETTI et al, 2014). Trabulsi (1996) não considera saudável a presença de bacté-rias Gram-Negativas em um indivíduo, assim como Hoefer (1997) e Mattes et al (2005) sugerem que Escherichia coli não é um componente natural da microbiota entérica de psitacídeos, portanto sua presença estaria associada com a ocorrência de alguma enfermidade ou desequilíbrio (KNÖBL, T.; MENÃO, M. 2010).…”

Recent Advances in Screening of Anti-Campylobacter Activity in Probiotics for Use in Poultry

“…Moreover, it is laborious, time-consuming and, thus, inappropriate for large scale screening experiments from environmental samples, especially when microbial groups, other than those needed to be identified, are at higher population levels. In addition, the PCR methodology (mostly on 16S and 23S ribosomal RNA) coupled to sequencing is commonly employed for efficient identification of lactic acid bacteria (Allegretti et al, 2014 ; Yadav and Shukla, 2015 ; Cherdyntseva et al, 2016 ). It is easy to implement, fast, cost efficient, and requires a small amount of template DNA.…”

Measuring the gut microbiome in birds: Comparison of faecal and cloacal sampling

“…A large number of studies investigating the gut microbiome of birds and reptiles have sampled bacteria from the cloaca (Allegretti et al., ; Barbosa et al., ; Bowman & Jacobson, ; Charruau, Pérez‐Flores, Pérez‐Juárez, Cedeño‐Vázquez, & Rosas‐Carmona, ; Cooper, Needham, & Lawrence, ; D'Aloia, Bailey, Samour, Naldo, & Howlett, ; Dewar, Arnould, Krause, Dann, & Smith, ; Dewar et al., ; Dickinson, Duck, Schwalbe, Jarchow, & Trueblood, ; van Dongen et al., ; Ganz et al., ; Hoar, Whiteside, Ward, Inglis, & Morck, ; Klomp et al., ; Kreisinger, Čížková, Kropáčková, & Albrecht, ; Lamberski, Hull, Fish, Beckmen, & Morishita, ; Lobato, Geraldes, Melo, Doutrelant, & Covas, ; Lombardo et al., ; Lucas & Heeb, ; Martin, Gilman, & Weiss, ; Matson, Versteegh, van der Velde, & Tieleman, ; Maul, Gandhi, & Farris, ; Merkeviciene et al., ; Mills, Lombardo, & Thorpe, ; Moreno et al., ; Ruiz‐Rodríguez, Lucas, Heeb, & Soler, ; Ruiz‐Rodríguez, Soler, et al., ; Santoro, Hernández, & Caballero, ; Santos et al., ; Stanley, Geier, Chen, Hughes, & Moore, ; Stenkat, Krautwald‐Junghanns, Schmitz Ornés, Eilers, & Schmidt, ; Xenoulis et al., ). Cloacal sampling is widely used because it is straightforward to perform, allows repeated sampling of individuals and affords the possibility of reliably obtaining samples from all individuals at the same time.…”