AI Article Synopsis
- Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a powerful marine toxin found in various marine and terrestrial species, leading to questions about its origin and spread in marine environments.
- Research indicates that TTX-producing bacteria may play a significant role in the toxin's presence within certain species, but comprehensive studies on the overall microbial composition in TTX-bearing animals were lacking.
- The study examined the bacterial communities in both TTX-bearing and non-TTX-bearing marine ribbon worms, revealing distinct microbiomes for different species and suggesting that understanding these communities is crucial for uncovering the origins of TTX.
Article Abstract
A potent marine toxin, tetrodotoxin (TTX), found in a great variety of marine and some terrestrial species, leaves intriguing questions about its origin and distribution in marine ecosystems. TTX-producing bacteria were found in the cultivable microflora of many TTX-bearing hosts, thereby providing strong support for the hypothesis that the toxin is of bacterial origin in these species. However, metagenomic studies of TTX-bearing animals addressing the whole microbial composition and estimating the contribution of TTX-producing bacteria to the overall toxicity of the host were not conducted. The present study is the first to characterize and compare the 16S rRNA gene data obtained from four TTX-bearing and four non-TTX-bearing species of marine ribbon worms. The statistical analysis showed that different nemertean species harbor distinct bacterial communities, while members of the same species mostly share more similar microbiomes. The bacterial species historically associated with TTX production were found in all studied samples but predominated in TTX-bearing nemertean species. This suggests that deeper knowledge of the microbiome of TTX-bearing animals is a key to understanding the origin of TTX in marine ecosystems.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7143766 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/md18030177 | DOI Listing |
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