Fur seal microbiota are shaped by the social and physical environment, show mother–offspring similarities and are associated with host genetic quality
Abstract Despite an increasing appreciation of the importance of host–microbe interactions in ecological and evolutionary processes, the factors shaping microbial communities in wild populations remain poorly understood. We therefore exploited a natural experiment provided by two adjacent Antarctic...
Published in: | Molecular Ecology |
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crwiley:10.1111/mec.15070 2024-09-15T17:46:36+00:00 Fur seal microbiota are shaped by the social and physical environment, show mother–offspring similarities and are associated with host genetic quality Grosser, Stefanie Sauer, Jan Paijmans, Anneke J. Caspers, Barbara A. Forcada, Jaume Wolf, Jochen B. W. Hoffman, Joseph I. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.15070 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmec.15070 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.15070 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/mec.15070 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Molecular Ecology volume 28, issue 9, page 2406-2422 ISSN 0962-1083 1365-294X journal-article 2019 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15070 2024-08-06T04:20:41Z Abstract Despite an increasing appreciation of the importance of host–microbe interactions in ecological and evolutionary processes, the factors shaping microbial communities in wild populations remain poorly understood. We therefore exploited a natural experiment provided by two adjacent Antarctic fur seal ( Arctocephalus gazella ) colonies of high and low social density and combined 16S rRNA metabarcoding with microsatellite profiling of mother–offspring pairs to investigate environmental and genetic influences on skin microbial communities. Seal‐associated bacterial communities differed profoundly between the two colonies, despite the host populations themselves being genetically undifferentiated. Consistent with the hypothesis that social stress depresses bacterial diversity, we found that microbial alpha diversity was significantly lower in the high‐density colony. Seals from one of the colonies that contained a stream also carried a subset of freshwater‐associated bacteria, indicative of an influence of the physical environment. Furthermore, mothers and their offspring shared similar microbial communities, in support of the notion that microbes may facilitate mother–offspring recognition. Finally, a significant negative association was found between bacterial diversity and heterozygosity, a measure of host genetic quality. Our study thus reveals a complex interplay between environmental and host genetic effects, while also providing empirical support for the leash model of host control, which posits that bacterial communities are driven not only by bottom‐up species interactions, but also by top‐down host regulation. Taken together, our findings have broad implications for understanding host–microbe interactions as well as prokaryotic diversity in general. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus gazella Wiley Online Library Molecular Ecology 28 9 2406 2422 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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English |
description |
Abstract Despite an increasing appreciation of the importance of host–microbe interactions in ecological and evolutionary processes, the factors shaping microbial communities in wild populations remain poorly understood. We therefore exploited a natural experiment provided by two adjacent Antarctic fur seal ( Arctocephalus gazella ) colonies of high and low social density and combined 16S rRNA metabarcoding with microsatellite profiling of mother–offspring pairs to investigate environmental and genetic influences on skin microbial communities. Seal‐associated bacterial communities differed profoundly between the two colonies, despite the host populations themselves being genetically undifferentiated. Consistent with the hypothesis that social stress depresses bacterial diversity, we found that microbial alpha diversity was significantly lower in the high‐density colony. Seals from one of the colonies that contained a stream also carried a subset of freshwater‐associated bacteria, indicative of an influence of the physical environment. Furthermore, mothers and their offspring shared similar microbial communities, in support of the notion that microbes may facilitate mother–offspring recognition. Finally, a significant negative association was found between bacterial diversity and heterozygosity, a measure of host genetic quality. Our study thus reveals a complex interplay between environmental and host genetic effects, while also providing empirical support for the leash model of host control, which posits that bacterial communities are driven not only by bottom‐up species interactions, but also by top‐down host regulation. Taken together, our findings have broad implications for understanding host–microbe interactions as well as prokaryotic diversity in general. |
author2 |
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Grosser, Stefanie Sauer, Jan Paijmans, Anneke J. Caspers, Barbara A. Forcada, Jaume Wolf, Jochen B. W. Hoffman, Joseph I. |
spellingShingle |
Grosser, Stefanie Sauer, Jan Paijmans, Anneke J. Caspers, Barbara A. Forcada, Jaume Wolf, Jochen B. W. Hoffman, Joseph I. Fur seal microbiota are shaped by the social and physical environment, show mother–offspring similarities and are associated with host genetic quality |
author_facet |
Grosser, Stefanie Sauer, Jan Paijmans, Anneke J. Caspers, Barbara A. Forcada, Jaume Wolf, Jochen B. W. Hoffman, Joseph I. |
author_sort |
Grosser, Stefanie |
title |
Fur seal microbiota are shaped by the social and physical environment, show mother–offspring similarities and are associated with host genetic quality |
title_short |
Fur seal microbiota are shaped by the social and physical environment, show mother–offspring similarities and are associated with host genetic quality |
title_full |
Fur seal microbiota are shaped by the social and physical environment, show mother–offspring similarities and are associated with host genetic quality |
title_fullStr |
Fur seal microbiota are shaped by the social and physical environment, show mother–offspring similarities and are associated with host genetic quality |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fur seal microbiota are shaped by the social and physical environment, show mother–offspring similarities and are associated with host genetic quality |
title_sort |
fur seal microbiota are shaped by the social and physical environment, show mother–offspring similarities and are associated with host genetic quality |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.15070 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmec.15070 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.15070 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/mec.15070 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus gazella |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus gazella |
op_source |
Molecular Ecology volume 28, issue 9, page 2406-2422 ISSN 0962-1083 1365-294X |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15070 |
container_title |
Molecular Ecology |
container_volume |
28 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
2406 |
op_container_end_page |
2422 |
_version_ |
1810494877159391232 |