Koalas () are highly specialized herbivorous marsupials that feed almost exclusively on leaves, which are known to contain varying concentrations of many different toxic chemical compounds. The literature suggests that , a bacterium in the Pasteurellaceae family, can break down some of these toxic chemical compounds. Furthermore, in a previous study, we identified as the most predictive taxon of koala survival during antibiotic treatment. Therefore, we believe that this bacterium may be important for koala health. Here, we isolated a strain of from a healthy koala female and sequenced its genome using a combination of short-read and long-read sequencing. We placed the genome assembly into a phylogenetic tree based on 120 genome markers using the Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB), which currently does not include any assemblies. Our genome assembly fell in the middle of a group of , and species. According to average nucleotide identity and a 16S rRNA gene tree, the closest relative of our isolate is strain Y17189. Then, we annotated the gene sequences and compared them to 55 closely related, publicly available genomes. Several genes that are known to be involved in carbohydrate metabolism could exclusively be found in relative to the other taxa in the pangenome, including glycoside hydrolase families GH2, GH31, GH32, GH43 and GH77. Among the predicted genes of were 79 candidates putatively involved in the degradation of plant secondary metabolites. Additionally, several genes coding for amino acid variants were found that had been shown to confer antibiotic resistance in other bacterial species against pulvomycin, beta-lactam antibiotics and the antibiotic efflux pump KpnH. In summary, this genetic characterization allows us to build hypotheses to explore the potentially beneficial role that might play in the koala intestinal microbiome. Characterizing and understanding beneficial symbionts at the whole genome level is important for the development of anti- and probiotic treatments for koalas, a highly threatened species due to habitat loss, wildfires, and high prevalence of infections.
Koalas are an iconic, endangered, Australian marsupial. Disease, habitat destruction, and catastrophic mega-fires have reduced koalas to remnant patches of their former range. With increased likelihood of extreme weather events and ongoing habitat clearing across Australia, koala populations are vulnerable to further declines and isolation.
Effective detection techniques are important for wildlife monitoring and conservation applications and are especially helpful for species that live in complex environments, such as arboreal animals like koalas (). The implementation of infrared cameras and drones has demonstrated encouraging outcomes, regardless of whether the detection was performed by human observers or automated algorithms. In the case of koala detection in eucalyptus plantations, there is a risk to spotters during forestry operations.
Retroviruses are an ancient viral family that have globally coevolved with vertebrates and impacted their evolution. In Australia, a continent that has been geographically isolated for millions of years, little is known about retroviruses in wildlife, despite the devastating impacts of a retrovirus on endangered koala populations. We therefore sought to identify and characterize Australian retroviruses through reconstruction of endogenous retroviruses from marsupial genomes, in particular the Tasmanian devil due to its high cancer incidence.
Genetic management is a critical component of threatened species conservation. Understanding spatial patterns of genetic diversity is essential for evaluating the resilience of fragmented populations to accelerating anthropogenic threats. Nowhere is this more relevant than on the Australian continent, which is experiencing an ongoing loss of biodiversity that exceeds any other developed nation.
The anaerobic gut fungi (AGF) inhabit the alimentary tracts of herbivores. In contrast to placental mammals, information regarding the identity, diversity, and community structure of AGF in marsupials is extremely sparse. Here, we characterized AGF communities in 61 fecal samples from 10 marsupial species belonging to four families in the order Diprotodontia: Vombatidae (wombats), Phascolarctidae (koalas), Phalangeridae (possums), and Macropodidae (kangaroos, wallabies, and pademelons).
