Gallbladder bile microbiota in healthy dogs and dogs with mucocele formation

In this study we applied next-generation 16S rRNA gene sequencing to identify the culture-negative bacterial community of gallbladder bile from healthy dogs and gallbladder mucus from dogs with mucocele formation. Integral to our study was the use of 2 separate DNA isolations on each sample using different extraction methods and sequencing of negative control samples enabling recognition and curation of contaminating sequences. Microbiota findings were validated by simultaneous culture-based identification and fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) performed on gallbladder mucosa.