Culture-independent assessment of oral microbiota composition in pet reptiles

Culture-dependent surveys of the oral cavity of snakes have found a wide array of potential human pathogens, hence bacterial infections secondary to snakebites and cases of salmonellosis have been linked to the oral microbiota of reptiles. Further, another set of literature records demonstrate that reptile oral bacteria are attributable to prey feces. Here, we used culture-independent16S rDNA amplicon sequencing to characterize the oral microbiota of snakes and other common pet reptiles and to test for the proportion of bacteria reported in literature. In our oral samples the vast majority of reported bacteria were either absent or present in very low proportions. We found strong differences between the taxonomic groups of reptiles, suggesting a highly specific and unique microbiota structure. Moreover, the oral microbiome of snakes was very different from the fecal microbiota reported for mice. Our study provides a first comprehensive survey with next-generation sequencing investigating the oral microbiota of snakes and reptiles in general and points out that it is important to readdress the current knowledge with culture independent techniques.