The intestinal microbiota was revealed with the recent advances in molecular techniques, such as high-throughput sequencing analysis. As a result, the microbial changes are thought to influence the health of humans and animals and such changes are affected by several factors including diet, genetics, age, sex, and diseases. Similar studies are being conducted in dogs, and the knowledge of intestinal microbiota in dogs is expanding. Nonetheless, basic information on intestinal microbiota in dogs is less than that of humans. Our aim was to study toy poodles (n=21), a popular companion dog, in terms of basic characteristics of the faecal microbiota by 16S rRNA gene barcoding analysis. In the faecal microbiota, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Fusobacteria were the dominant phyla (over 93.4% of faecal microbiota) regardless of the attributes of the dogs. In family level, Enterobacteriaceae, Bacteroidaceae, and Lachnospiraceae were most prevalent. In case of a dog with protein-losing enteropathy, the diversity of faecal microbiota was different between before and after treatment. This study provides basic information for studying on faecal microbiota in toy poodles.

Four strains of Ochroconis gallopava from 3 out of 15 Japanese hot springs were isolated. Colonies of the hot spring isolates were uniformly floccose and dark olive green on the surface and dark brown on their reverse side on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates, however, they became felty, flat, and brownish-black, and produced a reddish-brown pigment after several times of subculture at room temperature. Shapes and sizes of conidia of the four strains were individual, while the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequences showed 99.7% identity in the GenBank database. The DNA pattern of the hot spring isolates amplified by species specific loop mediated isothermal amplification method were as the same pattern as that of a clinical isolate. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of antifungal agents to O. gallopava isolated from the hot springs were ranged from 0.5 to 1 microg/ml in amphotericin B, 1 to 16 microg/ml in flucytosine, 0.125 to 0.25 microg/ml in itraconazole, 1 to 4 microg/ml in miconazole, 16 to 64 microg/ml in flconazole and 0.03 to 0.5 microg/ml in micafungin. The isolates had fatal outcome in experimentally infected mice intravenously with severe invasiveness to brains and kidneys. These findings suggested that O. gallopava habitats in hot springs could be one of sources for infection.

Genotypes of Candida spp. isolated from exhalation of 20 dolphins, 11 water samples from captive pools, and 24 oral cavities of staff members in an aquarium using a combination of multiple drug resistance 1 gene (MDR1) and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) 1 5.8s-ITS 2 regions of ribosomal RNA gene (ITS rDNA) sequences were studied. The holding ratios of the dolphins, captive pools, and staff members were 70, 90, and 29%, respectively. Isolated pathogenic yeast species common to the dolphins and environments were Candida albicans and C. tropicalis. Identical genotypes in both Candida spp. based on the combination of MDR1 and ITSrDNA were found in some dolphins, between a dolphin and a staff, among dolphins and environments, and among environments. The results indicated the diffusion and exchange of pathogenic yeasts at the aquarium among dolphins and environments. The isolates at the aquarium showed higher rates of resistance to azole antifungals compared to reference isolates.

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