Insights into gut microbiota communities of Poecilobdella manillensis, a prevalent Asian medicinal leech
Microbiome study published in Journal of Applied Microbiology (2022)
Resumen
AIMS: Medicinal leeches (Annelida: Hirudinea) are fresh water ectoparasitic species which have been applied as traditional therapy. However, gut microbiota could bring high risks of opportunistic infections after leeching and arouses great interests. Here, gut bacterial and fungal communities of an Asian prevalent leech Poecilobdella manillensis were characterized and analysed through culture-independent sequencing. METHODS AND RESULTS: With high coverage in 18 samples (>0.999), a more complicated community was apparent after comparing with previous leech studies. A total of 779/939 OTUs of bacteria and fungi were detected from leech guts. The bacterial community was dominated by the phylum Bacteroidetes and Synergistetes. Genera Mucinivorans and Fretibacterium accounted mostly at the genus level, and genus Aeromonas showed an extremely low abundance (2.02%) on average. The fungal community was dominated by the phylum Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. At the genus level, the dominant OTUs included Mortierella, Geminibasidium and Fusarium. The analysis of core taxa included those above dominant genera and some low-abundance genera (>1%). The functional annotation of the bacterial community showed a close correlation with metabolism (34.8 ± 0.6%). Some fungal species were predicted as opportunistic human pathogens including Fusarium and Chaetomiaceae. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides fundamental rationales for further studies of such issues as bacteria-fungi-host interactions, host fitness, potential pathogens, and infecting risks after leeching. It shall facilitate in-depth explorations on the safe utilization of leech therapy. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF STUDY: Present paper is the first-ever exploration on microbiota of a prevalent Asian medicinal leech based on culture-independent technical. And it is also the first report of gut fungi community of medicinal leech. The diversity and composition of bacteria in P. manillensis was far different from that of the European leech. The main components and core OTUs indicate a particular gut environment of medicinal leech. Unknown bacterial and fungal species were also recovered from leech gut.
Resumen tomado de PubMed (NCBI) para el registro citado, en el idioma original. La versión de referencia es la de la publicación original.
El resumen se deja sin traducir para conservar la redacción original de los autores.
Síntesis
Culture-independent sequencing of 18 samples of the Asian medicinal leech Poecilobdella manillensis showed bacteria dominated by Bacteroidetes and Synergistetes, rare Aeromonas (2.02%), and fungi including predicted opportunistic pathogens like Fusarium.
Por qué esto importa para la hirudoterapia
Este estudio (Meng et al., Journal of Applied Microbiology 2022) utilizó secuenciación independiente de cultivo de 18 muestras para caracterizar las comunidades bacterianas y fúngicas intestinales de la sanguijuela medicinal asiática Poecilobdella manillensis, informando de una comunidad más compleja que la observada en estudios previos de sanguijuelas: las bacterias estuvieron dominadas por Bacteroidetes y Synergistetes (géneros Mucinivorans y Fretibacterium), con Aeromonas en baja abundancia promedio (2,02%), mientras que los hongos estuvieron dominados por Ascomycota y Basidiomycota e incluyeron posibles patógenos oportunistas como Fusarium; los autores señalan que la microbiota difirió marcadamente de la sanguijuela europea y describen esto como el primer informe de una comunidad fúngica intestinal de sanguijuela. Esto es directamente relevante para la seguridad de la hirudoterapia, porque el microbioma intestinal de la sanguijuela es la fuente del riesgo de infección tras la aplicación y aporta información para las consideraciones sobre profilaxis antibiótica. Advertencia honesta: se trata de un estudio descriptivo de secuenciación de una especie asiática específica, no de Hirudo medicinalis, y caracteriza la composición microbiana y el potencial de infección en lugar de medir los resultados reales de infección en pacientes tratados.
Citación
Insights into gut microbiota communities of Poecilobdella manillensis, a prevalent Asian medicinal leech.
Meng F et al. · Journal of applied microbiology, 2022
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Añadido a la biblioteca ASH: 27 de mayo de 2026 · Última actualización del sitio: 18 de junio de 2026