ఫంగల్ జెనోమిక్స్ & బయాలజీ
అందరికి ప్రవేశం

నైరూప్య

Investigation of Filamentous Fungi in Wild Caatinga Biome Reptiles: Microbiota Research

Renan Vasconcelos Graça-Filho1,3*, Maria Gleiciane da Rocha1,4, Xhaulla Maria Quariguasi Cunha Fonseca5, Cínthia Firmo Teixeira3, Amaurício Lopes Rocha Brandão2, Manoel Araújo Neto Paiva1

Characterizing the fungal microbiota of free-living animals such as reptiles is necessary for a better understanding of fungal-host interactions as well as for establishing patterns of infections in these animals, thus creating an information network that helps understand the incidence and the microorganisms involved in this population for better maintenance and conservation of these species. Nonetheless, reports with this approach are limited, especially those focused on filamentous fungi. Therefore, this study aimed to isolate and identify filamentous fungi present in the oral cavity microbiota and cloaca of free-living reptiles of the Caatinga biome. Seven lizards, seven snakes, and two amphisbaenians were collected for mycological sampling, totaling 16 species of reptiles. The samples were collected from the oral and cloacal cavity of the animals, with sterile swabs, and sown in Sabouraud agar supplemented with chloramphenicol (0.05 g/L) and maintained for up to 14 days for the fungi isolation. Thus, 77 strains of filamentous fungi present in the microbiota of reptiles such as snakes, lizards, and amphisbaenian were isolated and identified. Among the most frequent fungi are the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Microsporum, respectively. In short, knowledge of fungal diversity present in free-living reptiles of the Caatinga biome is of fundamental importance, since different opportunistic filamentous fungi have been isolated in this study, especially the genus Aspergillus, emphasizing the importance of monitoring these animals, as they can act as carriers and disseminators of potentially pathogenic agents.