Gopher Tortoise Fecal Microbiome Longitudinal

This project characterized the gopher tortoise fecal microbiome over the length of seven days. Three fecal samples from three different tortoises were aliquoted at T0 and each day thereafter, i.e., from 01/08/24 to 01/15/24. Aliquots from day 01/10/2024 were not viable for analysis, and thus, were excluded. In total 21 aliquots were analyzed. The V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified for each prokaryote using universal primers as selected by Zymo Research. These results show the change in alpha-diversity, beta-diversity, and relative abundance of prokaryotes in the gopher tortoise fecal samples over the span of a seven days. These results provide insight into microbial ecology and potentially the transmission of diseases in gopher tortoises, as they engage in coprophagy with conspecifics.