Fecal microbiome and resistome in the long-term care of an Apennine wolf (Canis lupus italicus)
- 1Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Loc. Piano D’Accio, Teramo, 64100 Italy
- 2Wildlife Research Center, Maiella National Park, Viale del Vivaio, Caramanico Terme, 65023 Italy
Abstract
The Apennine wolf (Canis lupus italicus) increasingly inhabits human modified landscapes, where exposure to anthropogenic environments may influence microbial circulation and antimicrobial resistance. Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers provide opportunities to describe microbial and resistance gene profiles in animals at the human-wildlife interface; however, longitudinal shotgun metagenomic data from this subspecies during rehabilitation remain scarce. A juvenile male wolf admitted to a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center after traumatic injury and treated with multiple antibiotics was sampled at admission (T0) and after 11 months of rehabilitation (T1) in this case report. Fecal shotgun metagenomic sequencing was used to describe microbial communities, reads assigned to taxa of veterinary or public health interest, and antimicrobial resistance genes. Bacterial diversity increased from T0 to T1 with a shift from an Enterobacterales dominated profile to more diverse communities. Reads assigned to bacterial and viral taxa of potential health relevance were detected at both time points. The tools CARD-RGI identified 444 antibiotic resistance genes at T0 and 417 ARGs at T1, mainly associated with efflux pumps and β-lactamases. Genes related to Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials-including mcr variants, van clusters, and oxazolidinone resistance determinants-were identified. This single-animal report provides baseline information on microbiome and resistome modification during wolf rehabilitation and suggests larger longitudinal studies and biosecurity awareness in Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-026-05765-5.
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BibTeX
@article{smoglica2026fecal,
title = {{Fecal microbiome and resistome in the long-term care of an Apennine wolf (Canis lupus italicus)}},
author = {Camilla Smoglica and Simone Angelucci and Fabrizia Di Tana and Antonio Antonucci and Fulvio Marsilio and Cristina Esmeralda Di Francesco},
journal = {BMC Veterinary Research},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1186/s12917-026-05765-5},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-026-05765-5},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Fecal microbiome and resistome in the long-term care of an Apennine wolf (Canis lupus italicus)
AU - Camilla Smoglica
AU - Simone Angelucci
AU - Fabrizia Di Tana
AU - Antonio Antonucci
AU - Fulvio Marsilio
AU - Cristina Esmeralda Di Francesco
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/06
JO - BMC Veterinary Research
DO - 10.1186/s12917-026-05765-5
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-026-05765-5
AB - The Apennine wolf (Canis lupus italicus) increasingly inhabits human modified landscapes, where exposure to anthropogenic environments may influence microbial circulation and antimicrobial resistance. Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers provide opportunities to describe microbial and resistance gene profiles in animals at the human-wildlife interface; however, longitudinal shotgun metagenomic data from this subspecies during rehabilitation remain scarce. A juvenile male wolf admitted to a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center after traumatic injury and treated with multiple antibiotics was sampled at admission (T0) and after 11 months of rehabilitation (T1) in this case report. Fecal shotgun metagenomic sequencing was used to describe microbial communities, reads assigned to taxa of veterinary or public health interest, and antimicrobial resistance genes. Bacterial diversity increased from T0 to T1 with a shift from an Enterobacterales dominated profile to more diverse communities. Reads assigned to bacterial and viral taxa of potential health relevance were detected at both time points. The tools CARD-RGI identified 444 antibiotic resistance genes at T0 and 417 ARGs at T1, mainly associated with efflux pumps and β-lactamases. Genes related to Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials-including mcr variants, van clusters, and oxazolidinone resistance determinants-were identified. This single-animal report provides baseline information on microbiome and resistome modification during wolf rehabilitation and suggests larger longitudinal studies and biosecurity awareness in Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-026-05765-5.
SN - 1746-6148
ER -