FIG 1.

Snake venom microbiomes cluster on account of host species. Viperid venom microbiomes cluster separately from N. nigricollis, with the exception of B. atrox, as determined by (A) PCoA, (B) an UPGMA tree (i.e., unweighted pair group method using average linkages), and (C) class-level taxonomic profiling following 16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis. Dots in panels A and B are colored by species (red, B. arietans; black, N. nigricollis; light blue, B. atrox; orange, C. atrox; dark blue, O. scutallatus), represent data from individuals in captivity, are labeled with the short species name, are enumerated for the individual, and are identified for the envenomation number (E1 or E2) of the sample. The 8 wild B. arietans samples (red dots B1 to B8) and the commercially sourced, lyophilized B. arietans sample (red L dot) are independently labeled. Sample B3 was removed from the analysis due to the yield of ~100× lower read depth from this sample compared to all other B. arietans samples. Relative taxonomic diversity profiles in panel C are aligned to the UPGMA tree sample labels, with the Shannon-Wiener index (SWI) of each sample indicated. The geographical origins of the wild B. arietans samples collected in South Africa are shown in panel D.