| Type of Document |
Master's Thesis |
| Author |
Szekely, Brian
|
| Author's Email Address |
bszekely@vt.edu |
| URN |
etd-04222009-114403 |
| Title |
Determining fecal bacterial profiles of a human-habituated wild chimpanzee population in Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania. |
| Degree |
Master of Science |
| Department |
Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences |
| Advisory Committee |
| Advisor Name |
Title |
| Kaur, Taranjit |
Committee Chair |
| Hagedorn, Charles III |
Committee Member |
| Huckle, William R. |
Committee Member |
| Singh, Jatinder |
Committee Member |
|
| Keywords |
- T-RFLP
- Gut flora
- chimpanzee
- endangered species
- fecal flora
|
| Date of Defense |
2009-05-04 |
| Availability |
unrestricted |
Abstract
Intestinal flora of wild chimpanzee has not been studied. Fecal flora analyses currently give insight to this environment. We collected feces from twelve human-habituated wild chimpanzees in each of three age groups: four juveniles, four sub-adults, and four adults. We analyzed fecal samples using Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) of amplified 16S rRNA genes to determine bacterial diversity present. Between 1 and 14 terminal-restriction fragments (T-RFs) were observed in each sample. A total of 26 unique T-RFs were produced from the samples and ranged in size from 92 to 837 base pairs (bps). Twenty-four of these T-RFs corresponded to five bacterial phyla: Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Mollicutes, and Proteobacteria, as well as uncultured and unidentified bacterial species. The remaining T-RFs corresponded solely to uncultured or unidentified bacteria. Firmicutes was the most common phylum, observed in 11 of the samples. Bacteroidetes was the second-most common phylum, detected in 8 of the samples. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) revealed a discrete clustering of 10 samples when looking at components one and two, and a clustering of 11 samples when looking at component three. These three components accounted for 72.5% of the variation within the data. Morisita indices were computed to compare T-RF profiles of two samples at a time, and were between 0 and 0.886. Results indicated that some fecal bacterial profiles were similar in the study group, but ultimately varied between samples when compared two at a time. Specific diet, physiology, and environmental reservoir exposure may play large roles in shaping such profiles.
|
| Files |
| Filename |
Size |
Approximate Download Time
(Hours:Minutes:Seconds)
|
| 28.8 Modem |
56K Modem |
ISDN (64 Kb) |
ISDN (128 Kb) |
Higher-speed Access |
| |
SzekelyFinalThesis.pdf |
588.83 Kb |
00:02:43 |
00:01:24 |
00:01:13 |
00:00:36 |
00:00:03 |
|
