Maternal gut microbes shape the early-life assembly of gut microbiota in passerine chicks via nests

Cheng-Yu Chen,Grace Tzun-Wen Shaw,Daryi Wang,Chih-Ming Hung,Yi-Ying Chen,Chih-Kuan Chen,Andrew Fang

doi:10.1186/s40168-020-00896-9

Abstract

BackgroundKnowledge is growing on how gut microbiota are established, but the effects of maternal symbiotic microbes throughout early microbial successions in birds remain elusive. In this study, we examined the contributions and transmission modes of maternal microbes into the neonatal microbiota of a passerine, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), based on fostering experiments.ResultsUsing 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, we found that zebra finch chicks raised by their biological or foster parents (the society finch Lonchura striata domestica) had gut microbial communities converging with those of the parents that reared them. Moreover, source-tracking models revealed high contribution of zebra finches’ oral cavity/crop microbiota to their chicks’ early gut microbiota, which were largely replaced by the parental gut microbiota at later stages. The results suggest that oral feeding only affects the early stage of hatchling gut microbial development.ConclusionsOur study indicates that passerine chicks mainly acquire symbionts through indirect maternal transmission—passive environmental uptake from nests that were smeared with the intestinal and cloacal microbes of parents that raised them. Gut microbial diversity was low in hand-reared chicks, emphasizing the importance of parental care in shaping the gut microbiota. In addition, several probiotics were found in chicks fostered by society finches, which are excellent foster parents for other finches in bird farms and hosts of brood parasitism by zebra finches in aviaries; this finding implies that avian species that can transfer probiotics to chicks may become selectively preferred hosts of brood parasitism in nature.AtiieyQZ4CcL9ixQKb1-TBVideo

Highlights

Knowledge is growing on how gut microbiota are established, but the effects of maternal symbiotic microbes throughout early microbial successions in birds remain elusive
Even though maternal transmission sensu stricto refers to direct transmission before birth, it is increasingly common for studies to include indirect routes of maternal transmission [21], which encompass any transfer of maternal symbionts to offspring during or after birth
We further examined whether the maternal transmission of the chick gut microbiota mainly occurs through oral feeding or fecal contact in nests across the different stages of chick development

Summary

Introduction

Knowledge is growing on how gut microbiota are established, but the effects of maternal symbiotic microbes throughout early microbial successions in birds remain elusive. The initial colonists of the newborn gut come from maternal vaginal, fecal, and breast milk microbes; later on, a great degree of parental care may add diverse parental microbes, such as skin microbes, to newborns during their early stage of gut microbial community development [1, 22,23,24]. This process is crucial to the recruitment and establishment of neonatal microbiota and aid in defending against pathogens when the immune system is immature [25,26,27,28]

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