Imperial College London
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ProfessorAlfriedVogler

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park)

Professor of Molecular Systematics
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7942 5613a.vogler

 
 
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Location

 

Sir Alexander Fleming BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Srivathsan:2016:10.1186/s12983-016-0150-4,
author = {Srivathsan, A and Ang, A and Vogler, AP and Meier, R},
doi = {10.1186/s12983-016-0150-4},
journal = {Frontiers in Zoology},
title = {Fecal metagenomics for the simultaneous assessment of diet, parasites, and population genetics of an understudied primate},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-016-0150-4},
volume = {13},
year = {2016}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rapid habitat loss and degradation are responsible for population decline in a growing number of species. Understanding the natural history of these species is important for designing conservation strategies, such as habitat enhancements or ex-situ conservation. The acquisition of observational data may be difficult for rare and declining species, but metagenomics and metabarcoding can provide novel kinds of information. Here we use these methods for analysing fecal samples from an endangered population of a colobine primate, the banded leaf monkey (Presbytis femoralis). RESULTS: We conducted metagenomics via shotgun sequencing on six fecal samples obtained from a remnant population of P. femoralis in a species-rich rainforest patch in Singapore. Shotgun sequencing and identification against a plant barcode reference database reveals a broad dietary profile consisting of at least 53 plant species from 33 families. The diet includes exotic plant species and is broadly consistent with > 2 years of observational data. Metagenomics identified 15 of the 24 plant genera for which there is observational data, but also revealed at least 36 additional species. DNA traces for the diet species were recovered and identifiable in the feces despite long digestion times and a large number of potential food plants within the rainforest habitat (>700 species). We also demonstrate that metagenomics provides greater taxonomic resolution of food plant species by utilizing multiple genetic markers as compared to single-marker metabarcoding. In addition, full mitochondrial genomes of P. femoralis individuals were reconstructed from fecal metagenomic shotgun reads, showing very low levels of genetic diversity in the focal population, and the presence of gut parasites could also be confirmed. Metagenomics thus allows for the simultaneous assessment of diet, population genetics and gut parasites based on fecal samples. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that met
AU  - Srivathsan,A
AU  - Ang,A
AU  - Vogler,AP
AU  - Meier,R
DO  - 10.1186/s12983-016-0150-4
PY  - 2016///
SN  - 1742-9994
TI  - Fecal metagenomics for the simultaneous assessment of diet, parasites, and population genetics of an understudied primate
T2  - Frontiers in Zoology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-016-0150-4
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/32627
VL  - 13
ER  -
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