Determination of microbial diversity in the ocular conjunctiva of healthy dogs by total DNA sequencing
Abstract
The conjunctiva plays an essential role in eye health and immunity and acts as a barrier to
the entry of microorganisms. Conjunctival infections are common in dogs and result from both the
invasion of pathogenic microorganisms and the uncontrolled growth of the existing microbiota. Most
of the existing data come from studies based on traditional culture methods. These reports indicate
the predominance of gram-positive bacteria, especially Staphylococcus spp. In the present study, we
analyzed the microbiota present on the conjunctival surface from a heterogeneous dog population
without ophthalmological disorders using DNA sequencing. After a thorough ophthalmological
examination, conjunctival swabs were collected from both eyes of 30 dogs. After processing and nucleic
acid extraction, the sample pool was subjected to shotgun DNA sequencing through the Illumina
platform and analyzed via the Metagenomic Rapid Annotations using Subsystems Technology (MGRAST)
server. A predominance of the phylum Proteobacteria and the genera Ralstonia and Burkholderia
were identified along with a minority of fungi, whereas viruses were not found. Microbial DNA
sequencing has provided new data on this subject, revealing the presence of noncultivable organisms
that were previously unknown as part of the ocular microbiome.
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