ArticlePloS one2019
The Pacific harbor seal gut microbiota in Mexico: Its relationship with diet and functional inferences.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Deep metagenomics uncovers functional adaptations and pathogenic risks in the gut microbiome of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella).Environmental microbiome · 2026Article
- Gut Microbiota and Food Allergy: A Review of Mechanisms and Microbiota-Targeted Interventions.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Skin, but not gut, microbial communities vary with social density in Antarctic fur seals.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Unraveling the gut microbiota of Mexican pinnipeds: the dominance of life histories over phylogeny.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Grey and harbor seals in France (mainland and Saint-Pierre et Miquelon): microbial communities and identification of a microbial source tracking seal marker.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Characterising the gut microbiome of stranded harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in rehabilitation.PloS one · 2023Article
- Dietary Use of Methionine Sources andAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- A comparative study of the fecal microbiota of gray seal pups and yearlings - a marine mammal sentinel species.MicrobiologyOpen · 2022Article
- Feces DNA analyses track the rehabilitation of a free-ranging beluga whale.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- The relationship between dietary trophic level, parasites and the microbiome of Pacific walrus (Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Article
- Gut microbiota of endangered Australian sea lion pups is unchanged by topical ivermectin treatment for endemic hookworm infection.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- The role of the gut microbiota in the dietary niche expansion of fishing bats.Animal microbiome · 2021Article
- Patterns of the fecal microbiota in the Juan Fernández fur seal (Arctocephalus philippii).MicrobiologyOpen · 2021Article
- Microbial diversity and structure in the gastrointestinal tracts of two stranded short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) and a pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps).Integrative zoology · 2021Article
- Gut Microbiomes of Freshwater Mussels (Unionidae) Are Taxonomically and Phylogenetically Variable across Years but Remain Functionally Stable.Microorganisms · 2021Article
- Microbiome Composition and Function in Aquatic Vertebrates: Small Organisms Making Big Impacts on Aquatic Animal Health.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Review
- Distinct gut microbiotas between southern elephant seals and Weddell seals of Antarctica.Journal of microbiology (Seoul, Korea) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Diet is a primary driver of the composition of gut microbiota and is considered one of the main routes of microbial colonization. Prey identification is fundamental for correlating the diet with the presence of particular microbial groups. The present study examined how diet influenced the composition and function of the gut microbiota of the Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardii) in order to better understand the role of prey consumption in shaping its microbiota. This species is a good indicator of the quality of the local environment due to both its foraging and haul-out site fidelity. DNA was extracted from 20 fecal samples collected from five harbor seal colonies located in Baja California, Mexico. The V4 region of 16S rRNA gene was amplified and sequenced using the Illumina technology. Results showed that the gut microbiota of the harbor seals was dominated by the phyla Firmicutes (37%), Bacteroidetes (26%) and Fusobacteria (26%) and revealed significant differences in its composition among the colonies. Funtional analysis using the PICRUSt software suggests a high number of pathways involved in the basal metabolism, such as those for carbohydrates (22%) and amino acids (20%), and those related to the degradation of persistent environmental pollutants. In addition, a DNA metabarcoding analysis of the same samples, via the amplification and sequencing of the mtRNA 16S and rRNA 18S genes, was used to identify the prey consumed by harbor seals revealing the consumption of prey with mainly demersal habits. Functional redundancy in the seal gut microbiota was observed, irrespective of diet or location. Our results indicate that the frequency of occurrence of specific prey in the harbor seal diet plays an important role in shaping the composition of the gut microbiota of harbor seals by influencing the relative abundance of specific groups of gut microorganisms. A significant relationship was found among diet, gut microbiota composition and OTUs assigned to a particular metabolic pathway.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.