Organisms inhabiting extreme environments must tolerate a variety of physiochemical stressors. In some cases, host-associated microbial communities facilitate the survival of their hosts in extreme environments, but extremophile symbioses have not been identified in vertebrates. We used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to investigate commonalities and differences in the gut bacterial communities of livebearing fishes (Poecilia mexicana species complex, Poeciliidae) that have repeatedly colonised toxic sulfide streams in southern Mexico. We found shared gut microbial taxa across habitat types and drainages but also differences in the microbiomes between sulfidic and nonsulfidic populations, both in terms of patterns of diversity and community composition. Most importantly, we documented convergent changes in microbiome composition across evolutionarily independent sulfide spring lineages. These patterns were consistent when we analysed the gut microbiomes as well as primarily host-associated microbiomes that excluded taxa that are commonly found in the environment. Our analyses also revealed several microbial taxa associated with sulfide spring coloniation that have previously been implicated in symbioses and may influence the host's tolerance to the extreme environmental conditions. Our study sheds light on how shared environmental pressures can give rise to convergent host-microbiome associations in fishes, and it provides a foundation for investigating the role of host-microbiome interactions in vertebrate adaptation to extreme environments.
Read full abstract- All Solutions
Editage
One platform for all researcher needs
Paperpal
AI-powered academic writing assistant
R Discovery
Your #1 AI companion for literature search
Mind the Graph
AI tool for graphics, illustrations, and artwork
Journal finder
AI-powered journal recommender
Unlock unlimited use of all AI tools with the Editage Plus membership.
Explore Editage Plus - Support
Overview
9715 Articles
Published in last 50 years
Articles published on Diversity Composition
Authors
Select Authors
Journals
Select Journals
Duration
Select Duration
9337 Search results
Sort by Recency