Abstract
Diet and host genetic or evolutionary history are considered the two main factors determining gut microbiota of animals, although studies are scarce in natural populations. The system of great spotted cuckoos (Clamator glandarius) parasitizing magpies (Pica pica) is ideal to study both effects since magpie adults feed cuckoo and magpie nestlings with the same diet and, consequently, differences in gut microbiota of nestlings of these two species will mainly reflect the importance of genetic components. Moreover, the diet of adults and of nestling cuckoos drastically differ from each other and, thus, differences and similarities in their microbiotas would respectively reflect the effect of environmental and genetic factors. We used next-generation sequencing technologies to analyze the gut microbiota of cuckoo adults and nestlings and of magpie nestlings. The highest α-diversity estimates appeared in nestling cuckoos and the lowest in nestling magpies. Moreover, despite the greatest differences in the microbiome composition of magpies and cuckoos of both ages, cuckoo nestlings harbored a mixture of the Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) present in adult cuckoos and nestling magpies. We identified the bacterial taxa responsible for such results. These results suggest important phylogenetic components determining gut microbiome of nestlings, and that diet might be responsible for similarities between gut microbiome of cuckoo and magpie nestlings that allow cuckoos to digest food provided by magpie adults.
Highlights
The study of symbiotic associations between macro- and microorganisms has become one of the most fruitful areas of biological research during the last decade [1]
In an attempt to contribute to filling this gap, we describe here gut microbiota of adults and nestlings of the brood parasitic great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) and of nestlings of their main host species in Europe, the magpie (Pica pica), in a natural setting
There were, clear differences in the particular Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) prevailing in magpie samples and those of cuckoos, with several OTUs that are highly abundant in magpie samples but scarce or absent in cuckoo samples, and a majority of OTUs that were detected in cuckoo samples that were not detected in those of magpies (Figure 1)
Summary
The study of symbiotic associations between macro- and microorganisms has become one of the most fruitful areas of biological research during the last decade [1]. This is mainly because symbiotic relationships between animals and microorganisms can have a profound impact on animal evolution, among other reasons, because microbes that are integrated within the hosts can perform essential functions for them, while hosts provide particular environments that are essential for microbes’ reproduction and dispersal [2,3]. Whatever the underlying cause and its implication for evolutionary theory, characterizing the microbial diversity associated with different hosts, as well as possible functionalities for them, is essential for understanding animal adaptation to environmental conditions. The gut microbiota of animals is greatly beneficial for hosts’ life, and exploring factors affecting interspecific variation, as well as microbiota acquisition, stability, and homeostasis, would help to understand the role of microorganisms in animals’
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