Staphylococcus aureus lineages associated with a free-ranging population of the fruit bat Pteropus livingstonii retained over 25 years in captivity

Abstract

Conservation of endangered species has become increasingly complex, and costly interventions to protect wildlife require a robust scientific evidence base. This includes consideration of the role of the microbiome in preserving animal health. Captivity introduces stressors not encountered in the wild including environmental factors and exposure to exotic species, humans and antimicrobial drugs. These stressors may perturb the microbiomes of wild animals, with negative consequences for their health and welfare and hence the success of the conservation project, and ultimately the risk of release of non-native organisms into native ecosystems. We compared the genomes of Staphylococcus aureus colonising critically endangered Livingstone’s fruit bats (Pteropus livingstonii) which have been in a captive breeding programme for 25 years, with those from bats in the endemic founder population free ranging in the Comoros Republic. Using whole genome sequencing, we compared 47 isolates from captive bats with 37 isolates from those free ranging in the Comoros Republic. Our findings demonstrate unexpected resilience in the bacteria carried, with the captive bats largely retaining the same two distinctive lineages carried at the time of capture. In addition, we found evidence of genomic changes which suggest specific adaptations to the bat host.

Opportunistic evidence of the impact of bacterial infections on social integration in vampire bats

“…Alternatively, several species within the S. aureus complex, including Staphylococcus schweitzeri and Staphylococcus argenteus, among others (34)(35)(36), typically infect the skin and cause symptoms that are consistent with what we observed. S. aureus complex has also been isolated from the feces of Old-World fruit bats (37)(38)(39)(40) and the common vampire bat (41,42).…”

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“…e vírus da raiva(FAVORETTO et al, 2002;SODRÉ;GAMA;ALMEIDA, 2010).Bactérias da família Staphylococcaceae já foram isoladas do intestino e da nasofaringe de morcegos(HEATON et al, 2020), mas poucas informações sobre eles na pele de morcegos estão disponíveis. Staphylococcus aureus foi isolado da pele de uma população de vida livre do morcego frugívoro Pteropus livingstonii na República de Comores(FOUNTAIN et al, 2022). Além disso, a microbiota da pele de espécies de morcegos na China foi avaliada pelo sequenciamento do gene 16S rRNA e revelou a presença de Staphylococcus spp (LI et al, 2022)…”