Emily, a three year old Boxer pit bull, and her many invisible symbionts
Those of us who spend time with dogs may have noticed that their breath has a unique aroma, a trait which is thought to be related to the different bacteria that live between their jaws. A team including the Genome Centerâs
Jonathan Eisen has recently uncovered novel metabolic adaptations developed by a bacteria, Porphyromonas cangingivalis, which is the most abundant species in the canine oral microbiome.
This project, the result of a collaboration between UC Davis and the Mars Corporationâs
Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition, shows that P. cangingivalis has the enzymatic potential to synthesize both heme, an important component of red blood cells, and vitamin B12, which is valuable for proper nervous system function. This metabolic flexibility could underlie the widespread prevalence of the bacteria, and the benefits to the host might explain why it is tolerated by the canine immune system.
When asked for comment, Professor Eisen noted that this study âshows how and why large scale sequencing of culture collections can inform pet care and veterinary medicine, [and] how little we know about the microbial diversity found in any organism other than humans, even ones we live with.â Other studies have indicated that dogs are
significant sources for bacterial diversity, and that families with dogs tend to have
more microbial similarity from one member to the next. Collectively these studies indicate the important role that these furry symbionts play in human health, and why it is important to study their microbiome as well as our own.
The open access article was published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution:
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Emily, a three year old Boxer pit bull, and her many invisible symbionts