Abstract
As sequencing technology continues to rapidly improve, studies
investigating the microbial communities of host organisms (i.e.,
microbiomes) are becoming not only more popular but also more
financially accessible. Across many taxa, microbiomes can have important
impacts on organismal health and fitness. To evaluate the microbial
community composition of a particular microbiome, microbial DNA must be
successfully extracted. Fecal samples are often easy to collect and are
a good source of gut microbial DNA. However, in birds and reptiles,
microbial DNA extractions from fecal matter have proven to be difficult
due to high concentrations of uric acid, an inhibitor of DNA
extractions. Here, we present a new microbial DNA extraction method that
is highly effective for avian species and displays higher efficiency and
consistency than other commonly used methodologies. Further, our method
is also effective in extracting microbial DNA from oils collected from
the avian preen gland. Preen oil chemicals are important for many
aspects of avian life, and the biosynthesis of these chemicals is
dependent on the preen gland microbial community. We expect our method
will facilitate microbial DNA extractions from multiple avian microbiome
reservoirs, which have previously proved difficult and expensive. Our
method therefore increases the feasibility of future studies of avian
host microbiomes.