Exploring the microbial community (microflora) associated with ovine Haemonchus contortus (macroflora) field strains

High-throughput sequencing technology has shown tremendous promise for microbial community composition and diversity. Illumina MiSeq platform was exploited to study the microbial community associated with the different stages of the life-cycle of ovine Haemonchus contortus field strains using two distinct amplification primer sets (targeting V3-V4, and V5-V7). Scanning electron microscope and polymerase chain reaction coupled with Illumina MiSeq platform were employed to confirm the absence of any parasite surface contamination by intact bacteria or their DNA products. Results showed 48 (V3-V4 tags) and 28 (V5-V7 tags) bacterial genera comprised the microbial flora of H. contortus microbiome. The dominant bacterial genera belonged to Escherichia-Shigella, Pseudomonas and Ochrobactrum, which were shared in all the stages of the parasite life-cycle using V3-V4 and V5-V7 amplicons. Moreover, the parasite microbiome could reflect the external micro-organisms (i.e. micro- and macro-habitats). There is abundant room for further progress in comparing microbiome of different helminths, which has, and will continue to offer considerable potential for better understanding a wide-variety of devastating animal and human diseases.