Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals
Abstract The gut microbiome is an integral part of a species' ecology, but we know little about how host characteristics impact its development in wild populations. Here, we explored the role of such intrinsic factors in shaping the gut microbiome of northern elephant seals ( Mirounga angustiro...
Published in: | Molecular Ecology |
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crwiley:10.1111/mec.15385 2024-09-09T19:38:55+00:00 Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals Stoffel, Martin A. Acevedo‐Whitehouse, Karina Morales‐Durán, Nami Grosser, Stefanie Chakarov, Nayden Krüger, Oliver Nichols, Hazel J. Elorriaga‐Verplancken, Fernando R. Hoffman, Joseph I. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Genetics Society Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.15385 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmec.15385 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.15385 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/mec.15385 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Molecular Ecology volume 29, issue 11, page 2109-2122 ISSN 0962-1083 1365-294X journal-article 2020 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15385 2024-08-09T04:27:42Z Abstract The gut microbiome is an integral part of a species' ecology, but we know little about how host characteristics impact its development in wild populations. Here, we explored the role of such intrinsic factors in shaping the gut microbiome of northern elephant seals ( Mirounga angustirostris ) during a critical developmental window of 6 weeks after weaning, when the pups stay ashore without feeding. We found substantial sex differences in the early‐life gut microbiome, even though males and females could not yet be distinguished morphologically. Sex and age both explained around 15% of the variation in gut microbial beta diversity, while microbial communities sampled from the same individual showed high levels of similarity across time, explaining another 40% of the variation. Only a small proportion of the variation in beta diversity was explained by health status, assessed by full blood counts, but clinically healthy individuals had a greater microbial alpha diversity than their clinically abnormal peers. Across the post‐weaning period, the northern elephant seal gut microbiome was highly dynamic. We found evidence for several colonization and extinction events as well as a decline in Bacteroides and an increase in Prevotella , a pattern that has previously been associated with the transition from nursing to solid food. Lastly, we show that genetic relatedness was correlated with gut microbiome similarity in males but not females, again reflecting early sex differences. Our study represents a naturally diet‐controlled and longitudinal investigation of how intrinsic factors shape the early gut microbiome in a species with extreme sex differences in morphology and life history. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Wiley Online Library Molecular Ecology 29 11 2109 2122 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
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English |
description |
Abstract The gut microbiome is an integral part of a species' ecology, but we know little about how host characteristics impact its development in wild populations. Here, we explored the role of such intrinsic factors in shaping the gut microbiome of northern elephant seals ( Mirounga angustirostris ) during a critical developmental window of 6 weeks after weaning, when the pups stay ashore without feeding. We found substantial sex differences in the early‐life gut microbiome, even though males and females could not yet be distinguished morphologically. Sex and age both explained around 15% of the variation in gut microbial beta diversity, while microbial communities sampled from the same individual showed high levels of similarity across time, explaining another 40% of the variation. Only a small proportion of the variation in beta diversity was explained by health status, assessed by full blood counts, but clinically healthy individuals had a greater microbial alpha diversity than their clinically abnormal peers. Across the post‐weaning period, the northern elephant seal gut microbiome was highly dynamic. We found evidence for several colonization and extinction events as well as a decline in Bacteroides and an increase in Prevotella , a pattern that has previously been associated with the transition from nursing to solid food. Lastly, we show that genetic relatedness was correlated with gut microbiome similarity in males but not females, again reflecting early sex differences. Our study represents a naturally diet‐controlled and longitudinal investigation of how intrinsic factors shape the early gut microbiome in a species with extreme sex differences in morphology and life history. |
author2 |
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Genetics Society Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stoffel, Martin A. Acevedo‐Whitehouse, Karina Morales‐Durán, Nami Grosser, Stefanie Chakarov, Nayden Krüger, Oliver Nichols, Hazel J. Elorriaga‐Verplancken, Fernando R. Hoffman, Joseph I. |
spellingShingle |
Stoffel, Martin A. Acevedo‐Whitehouse, Karina Morales‐Durán, Nami Grosser, Stefanie Chakarov, Nayden Krüger, Oliver Nichols, Hazel J. Elorriaga‐Verplancken, Fernando R. Hoffman, Joseph I. Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals |
author_facet |
Stoffel, Martin A. Acevedo‐Whitehouse, Karina Morales‐Durán, Nami Grosser, Stefanie Chakarov, Nayden Krüger, Oliver Nichols, Hazel J. Elorriaga‐Verplancken, Fernando R. Hoffman, Joseph I. |
author_sort |
Stoffel, Martin A. |
title |
Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals |
title_short |
Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals |
title_full |
Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals |
title_fullStr |
Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals |
title_sort |
early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.15385 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmec.15385 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.15385 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/mec.15385 |
genre |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals |
op_source |
Molecular Ecology volume 29, issue 11, page 2109-2122 ISSN 0962-1083 1365-294X |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15385 |
container_title |
Molecular Ecology |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
2109 |
op_container_end_page |
2122 |
_version_ |
1809908080684564480 |