Mycobiota composition and diversity on the skin of the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea).

Authors

Samantha G Kuschke, Jeanette Wyneken, Anna Beth Coleman, Debra L Miller

Published in

Fungal biology. Volume 130. Issue 7. Pages 101866. Epub Sep 15, 2026.

Abstract

Due to increased understanding of the importance of high-throughput sequencing, the available literature on the microbiome of humans, non-human animals, and plants has increased in recent years. Unfortunately, research investigating fungi, as part of the microbiome, lags far behind bacterial research, and significant data gaps persist. However, the emergence of significant fungal diseases over the past few decades underscores the importance of understanding the mycobiota and their roles in host health and disease. Filling these knowledge gaps is critical for understanding and preventing diseases caused by fungi, especially for threatened and imperiled species. Here we focus on the imperiled leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). Recent work revealed that eggs and neonatal leatherbacks appear to be especially susceptible to fungal infections such as sea turtle egg fusariosis and mycotic dermatitis, respectively. As such, understanding of their mycobiota will add to our understanding of the pathogenesis of these diseases. Here, we characterize the mycobiota of leatherback sea turtles across three distinct life-stage classes (i.e., nesting females, neonates at nest emergence, and neonates at 3-4 weeks of age). We identified large shifts in the most predominant families and genera of fungi between life-stage classes and anatomic locations. Additionally, we found significant differences in beta diversity, suggesting that the fungal communities on leatherback skin differ between life-stage classes and anatomical locations. These data not only provide novel baseline mycobiota data for leatherback sea turtles but may also help elucidate the source of fungal infections in this species.

PMID:
42875133
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 15 Oct 2026.

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