Bacterial diversity in faeces from polar bear (Ursus maritimus) in Arctic Svalbard

Abstract Background Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are major predators in the Arctic marine ecosystem, feeding mainly on seals, and living closely associated with sea ice. Little is known of their gut microbial ecology and the main purpose of this study was to investigate the microbial diversity in faeces of polar bears in Svalbard, Norway (74-81°N, 10-33°E). In addition the level of bla _TEMalleles, encoding ampicillin resistance (amp^r) were determined. In total, ten samples were collected from ten individual bears, rectum swabs from five individuals in 2004 and faeces samples from five individuals in 2006. Results A 16S rRNA gene clone library was constructed, and all sequences obtained from 161 clones showed affiliation with the phylum Firmicutes, with 160 sequences identified as Clostridiales and one sequence identified as unclassified Firmicutes. The majority of the sequences (70%) were affiliated with the genus Clostridium. Aerobic heterotrophic cell counts on chocolate agar ranged between 5.0 × 10⁴to 1.6 × 10⁶colony forming units (cfu)/ml for the rectum swabs and 4.0 × 10³to 1.0 × 10⁵cfu/g for the faeces samples. The proportion of amp^rbacteria ranged from 0% to 44%. All of 144 randomly selected amp^risolates tested positive for enzymatic β-lactamase activity. Three % of the amp^risolates from the rectal samples yielded positive results when screened for the presence of bla _TEMgenes by PCR. Bla _TEMalleles were also detected by PCR in two out of three total faecal DNA samples from polar bears. Conclusion The bacterial diversity in faeces from polar bears in their natural environment in Svalbard is low compared to other animal species, with all obtained clones affiliating to Firmicutes. Furthermore, only low levels of bla _TEMalleles were detected in contrast to their increasing prevalence in some clinical and commensal bacterial populations.