Bacterial diversity in different regions of gastrointestinal tract of G iant A frican S nail ( A chatina fulica )

The gastrointestinal ( GI ) tract of invasive land snail A chatina fulica is known to harbor metabolically active bacterial communities. In this study, we assessed the bacterial diversity in the different regions of GI tract of G iant A frican snail, A . fulica by culture‐independent and culture‐dependent methods. Five 16S rRNA gene libraries from different regions of GI tract of active snails indicated that sequences affiliated to phylum γ ‐ P roteobacteria dominated the esophagus, crop, intestine, and rectum libraries, whereas sequences affiliated to T enericutes dominated the stomach library. On phylogenetic analysis, 30, 27, 9, 27, and 25 operational taxonomic units ( OTU s) from esophagus, crop, stomach, intestine, and rectum libraries were identified, respectively. Estimations of the total bacterial diversity covered along with environmental cluster analysis showed highest bacterial diversity in the esophagus and lowest in the stomach. Thirty‐three distinct bacterial isolates were obtained, which belonged to 12 genera of two major bacterial phyla namely γ‐ P roteobacteria and F irmicutes . Among these, L actococcus lactis and K urthia gibsonii were the dominant bacteria present in all GI tract regions. Quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction ( qPCR ) analysis indicated significant differences in bacterial load in different GI tract regions of active and estivating snails. The difference in the bacterial load between the intestines of active and estivating snail was maximum. Principal component analysis ( PCA ) of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism suggested that bacterial community structure changes only in intestine when snail enters estivation state.