Editor: April Blakeslee Abstract Aim: The aim of the study was to test the role of racoon (Procyon lotor), an invasive alien species, in the spread of microorganisms. We tested whether the spread of microorganisms can be detected by sampling microbial DNA sourced from the raccoon body, thus facilitating biodiversity research. Location: Warta Mouth National Park, western Poland. Methods: We used the V4 hyper-variable region of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene and Illumina MiSeq amplicon sequencing to identify microorganisms present on the body surface of raccoons. Results: Out of 170 DNA samples, we obtained 15 PCR products that contained the target sequences of freshwater or terrestrial microorganisms. We found that raccoons carry and spread chlorophytes, alveolates, amoeboids and fungi on their body surface. We identified 16 different microbial organisms. The sequences of four organisms, Micronuclearia podoventralis (amoeboid), Parachloroidium lobatum and Jaagichlorella roystonensis (chlorophyta), and Mortierella polygonia (fungi), exhibited 100% identity to the best GenBank hit and were thus identified to the species level. The two chlorophyte species, Parachloroidium lobatum and Jaagichlorella roystonensis, are particularly noteworthy, as they were first described recently, in 2013 and 2019, respectively, and knowledge about their global distribution is very scarce. Main conclusions: We demonstrated that raccoons may effectively spread terrestrial and aquatic microorganisms. By utilizing this novel source of microbial DNA, we also showed that mammals may be effective living samplers. This perspective is worth exploring, as in some cases it may efficiently reduce the burden required in traditional sampling and provide valuable insights into local biodiversity and distributions of species.

中文翻译：

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浣熊促进淡水和陆地微生物的传播——哺乳动物作为微生物 eDNA 的来源

编辑：April Blakeslee 摘要目的：该研究的目的是测试浣熊（Procyon lotor），一种外来入侵物种，在微生物传播中的作用。我们通过从浣熊身上采集微生物 DNA 来测试是否可以检测到微生物的传播，从而促进生物多样性研究。地点：波兰西部瓦尔塔口国家公园。方法：我们使用 18S 核糖体 RNA 基因的 V4 高变区和 Illumina MiSeq 扩增子测序来鉴定浣熊体表上存在的微生物。结果：在 170 个 DNA 样本中，我们获得了 15 个 PCR 产物，其中包含淡水或陆地微生物的目标序列。我们发现浣熊在它们的体表携带和传播叶绿素、肺泡、变形虫和真菌。我们鉴定了 16 种不同的微生物。四种生物的序列，Micronuclearia podoventralis（变形虫）、Parachloroidium lobatum 和 Jaagichlorella roystonensis（绿藻）和 Mortierellapolyia（真菌），与最佳 GenBank 命中率 100% 同一性，因此被鉴定到物种水平。两种叶绿素物种 Parachloroidium lobatum 和 Jaagichlorella roystonensis 尤其值得注意，因为它们最近分别于 2013 年和 2019 年首次被描述，关于它们的全球分布的知识非常稀少。主要结论：我们证明浣熊可以有效地传播陆生和水生微生物。通过利用这种新的微生物 DNA 来源，我们还表明哺乳动物可能是有效的活体采样者。这个观点值得探讨，