Raw reads and metadata for 16S and 12S sequencing for microbiome and dietary analysis of Tasmanian devils

The gut microbiome is an important component of host health and function
and is influenced by internal and external factors such as host phylogeny,
age, diet, and environment. Monitoring the gut microbiome has become an
increasingly important management tool for wild populations of threatened
species. The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is the largest extant
carnivorous marsupial from the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Devils
are currently endangered due to devil facial tumour disease. Previous
assessments have shown differences between captive and wild devil gut
microbiomes and changes during translocations. However, wild gut
microbiome variability across Tasmania and the drivers of these
differences are not well understood. We conducted a range-wide assessment
of gut microbiomes at ten locations across Tasmania, via 16S rRNA
sequencing, and tested the influence of diet (12S sequencing), location,
sex, and cohort. We show that the five most abundant phylum and genera
were consistent across all ten locations. Location, cohort, and sex
impacted bacterial richness, but location did not impact diversity. While
there were differences in diet across the state, there was no strong
evidence of differences between juveniles and adults, nor between males
and females. Contrary to our hypothesis, diet only explained a small
amount of variation seen in microbial communities. We suspect that other
variables, such as environmental factors and immune system development may
have a stronger influence on gut microbiome variability. Adjustments to
dietary supplementation is not necessary when preparing devils for
translocation to different sites. Future research should prioritize
collecting environmental samples for microbial analysis and integrating
metabolomics to elucidate functional differences associated with Tasmanian
devil gut microbiome variability.