A Fungal Foray in an NHP Gut Microbiome

The cynomolgus macaque, Macaca fascicularis, is a non-human primate (NHP) widely used in biomedical research as it shares behavioural, genetic, immunological and physiological similarities with humans. These similarities may extend to the enteric microbiome, with some microbial taxa common to both humans and NHPs. However, to date, the majority of these microbial surveys have focused on the prokaryome, and have largely ignored or overlooked the NHP gut mycobiome.

To address this shortfall, we have undertaken a region-by-region taxonomic survey of the cynomolgus intestinal mycobiota, from duodenum to distal colon, of ten captive animals of differing age. Using a high-throughput ITS1 amplicon sequencing-based approach, we found that fungi from the Ascomycota phylum dominate the cynomolgus enteric mycobiota. The budding yeast genus Kazachstania was most abundant, with K. pintolopesii and K. telluris highly prevalent, and the predominant species in many of the intestinal samples. However, while K. pintolopesii was present throughout the primate GI tract, K. telluris was found mainly in the small intestine.

In this study, K. pintolopesii was identified as the dominant enteric fungus in captive cynomolgus macaques. This contrasts with humans, where Candida albicans is a common member of the intestinal microbiota. To our knowledge, this is the first time K. pintolopesii has been identified as a primate gut commensal.