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Browsing Conference presentations by Author "Adair, Matthew A"

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    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Microbiome of Dwarf Chameleons (Bradypodion): Composition, and Capacity
    (2023-01-19) van Vuuren, Betting J
    Initial descriptions of microbial life presented a microcosm of ‘animalcula’ inhabiting environments similar to those of macroscopic life. Since these early observations horizons have expanded and the microbial world is now seen as a nuanced and multitudinous system. With the advent of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies, the ability to study these microscopic worlds has been expounded, revealing stunning complexity. One ultimate outcome of these expanding horizons has been the identification and study of the microbiome. This has even led to the proposal of novel, complex co-evolutionary theories (i.e., the Hologenome Theory of Evolution). Unfortunately, studies regarding the microbiomes of reptiles remain scarce, however, burgeoning research is unfolding. The chameleon genus Bradypodion is a prime candidate for studying the adaptive ability conferred by symbiotic micro-organisms as, beyond containing a score of comparable species, there is rich ecomorphological variation allowing many populations to thrive in both natural and transformed environments. Furthermore, microbial descriptions in Bradypodion remain undescribed in literature making insights to this aspect novel. This study, thus, aimed to apply current metagenomic methodologies, in the form of a MiSeq NGS platform (present at SAIAB), a High-Performance Computing facility (Ilifu), and machine learning algorithms (QIIME2) to visualise the bacterial microbial communities in Bradypodion. This has resulted in the first descriptions of the bacterial communities present in the digestive tracts (both buccal and faecal) for Bradypodion melanocephalum, Bradypodion thamnobates, and Bradypodion setaroi – endemics to southern Africa. Furthermore, these descriptions were used to inform the potential for phylosymbiosis within the genus based on the relative divergence times between the three chameleon species and the relative diversity of bacteria present. Here, appreciable microbial diversity was demonstrated across all samples with the use of alpha and beta diversity metrics. The comparison of bacterial diversity between the Bradypodion species showed that phylosymbiosis is not clearly defined within the genus, as different sample groupings offer contradictory outcomes to what is expected for phylosymbiosis. Due to the dichotomy, the explanation of partial phylosymbiosis is suggested, whilst further targeted sampling of other species in the genus is recommend and outlined. Furthermore, insight into the role that transformed habitat plays in the composition of the Bradypodion microbiome was produced; no differences were detected between populations from natural and transformed habitats, suggesting optimal microbiome composition regardless of habitat.