The feline cutaneous and oral microbiota are influenced by breed and environment

Abstract

Previous research revealed the feline skin bacterial microbiota to be site-specific and the fungal microbiota to be individual-specific. The effect of other factors, such as genotype and environment, have not yet been studied in cats, but have been shown to be potentially important in shaping the cutaneous microbiota of other animals. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of these factors on the bacterial and fungal microbiota of feline skin and oral cavity. The influence of genotype was assessed through the analysis of different cat breeds, and the influence of environment through comparison of indoor and outdoor cats. DNA was extracted from skin and oral swabs, and bacterial and fungal next-generation sequencing were performed. Analysis of the skin microbiota of different cat breeds revealed significant differences in alpha diversity, with Sphynx and Bengal cats having the most diverse communities. Many taxa were found to be differentially abundant between cat breeds, including Veillonellaceae and Malassezia spp. Outdoor environment exposure had considerable influence on beta diversity, especially in the oral cavity, and resulted in numerous differentially abundant taxa. Our findings indicate that the oral bacterial microbiota and both fungal and bacterial microbiota of feline skin are influenced by breed, and to a lesser degree, environment.

The Effects of Nutrition on the Gastrointestinal Microbiome of Cats and Dogs: Impact on Health and Disease

“…For example, in cats without periodontal disease, studies have shown that the most common phyla sampled have consistently been Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria (Sturgeon et al, 2014;Dewhirst et al, 2015;Harris et al, 2015;Adler et al, 2016;Older et al, 2019), while in those with periodontitis and/or gingivitis, a high degree of variation in pathogenic bacteria has been reported, with little similarity across studies (Perez-Salcedo et al, 2013;Harris et al, 2015;Whyte et al, 2017).…”

Malassezia Yeasts in Veterinary Dermatology: An Updated Overview

“…Recently, methods based on next generation sequencing (NGS) have allowed a better characterization of the complex microbial communities occurring on animal skin and made it possible to detect Malassezia species that would otherwise be missed using culture-based methods (Meason-Smith et al, 2017Korbelik et al, 2018;Older et al, 2019). Meason-Smith et al reported that the cutaneous mycobiota in dogs was influenced by various factors including environmental exposure, cohabitation with other pets and skin health status (Meason-Smith et al, 2015).…”

“…When samples from healthy and allergic cats were collected, the most abundant fungal sequences were identified as filamentous contaminants from the environment and not Malassezia yeasts, which were identified in 30 and 21% of healthy and allergic cat samples, but rarely accounted for more than 1% of the relative fungal abundance (Meason-Smith et al, 2017). The objectives of the recent study from Older et al were to evaluate how genotype and environment can influence the bacterial and fungal microbiota of feline skin (Older et al, 2019). Using NGS and Malassezia qPCR, they demonstrated that M. restricta and M. globosa were the most prevalent Malassezia species.…”

“…A recent study that utilized next generation sequencing (NGS) to study fungal populations on skin and mucosae in various cat breeds also reported that Devon rex cats had a high abundance of Malassezia species (Older et al, 2019). Interestingly, specieslevel analyses of the sequences identified M. globosa and M. restricta as the most abundant Malassezia species in the subject cats (Older et al, 2019).…”

“…A recent study that utilized next generation sequencing (NGS) to study fungal populations on skin and mucosae in various cat breeds also reported that Devon rex cats had a high abundance of Malassezia species (Older et al, 2019). Interestingly, specieslevel analyses of the sequences identified M. globosa and M. restricta as the most abundant Malassezia species in the subject cats (Older et al, 2019). In contrast, previous cultural studies typically identify M. pachydermatis as the most abundant species in cats, even when media (for example, modified Dixon's agar) and temperatures (32-34 • C) considered appropriate for the cultivation of the more demanding species are adopted (Bond et al, 1996a(Bond et al, , 2008Volk et al, 2010).…”