Sex-specific asymmetry within the cloacal microbiota of the striped plateau lizard, Sceloporus virgatus
Sex-specific asymmetry within the cloacal microbiota of the striped plateau lizard, Sceloporus virgatus
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DOI：
10.1007/s13199-010-0078-y
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发表时间：
2010-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Weiss, Stacey L.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Martin, Mark O.;Gilman, Frances R.;Weiss, Stacey L.
野生脊椎动物种群中微生物群落的结构和多样性仍然知之甚少，但预计对个体生存和繁殖成功具有重要影响。例如，最近的研究表明，野生鸟类的肠道微生物组合与宿主的表型质量有关。为了在这一研究领域做出贡献，我们使用基于16s rrna的培养不依赖技术研究了自由放养的高原条纹蜥蜴（Sceloporus virgatus）的肠道微生物群的组成和多样性。我们的数据集来自6名男性和6名女性的肛肠拭子，并基于每个样本的25个16s rRNA克隆，揭示了(i)总体微生物多样性低，（ii）微生物群落组成的性别不对称，男性的肛肠微生物群更典型地出现在其他生物的胃肠道居民中，而女性只显示出γ - proteobacterial种型，（iii）微生物群落结构的性别差异显著。雌虫的微生物多样性和丰富度明显低于雄虫，（iv）雌虫的微生物群落多样性与其寄生螨量呈负相关。目前尚不清楚雌性特异性的肠道微生物多样性缺乏是由于宿主功能或微生物-微生物相互作用，还是与雌性螨负荷的关系是因果关系，但这些发现有望与该物种的生活史和生态学相关。尽管来自人类、小鼠、鸟类、斑马鱼和无脊椎动物的微生物群的多样性被广泛研究，但这是文献中为数不多的描述野生脊椎动物肠道微生物群的报道之一，并且可能是第一个利用非培养技术的野生爬行动物的报道。
The structure and diversity of microbial communities in wild vertebrate populations remain poorly understood, but are expected to have important consequences for individual survival and reproductive success. For instance, recent work has demonstrated that cloacal microbe assemblages of wild birds are related to the phenotypic quality of the host. To contribute to this field of study, we examined the composition and diversity of the cloacal microbiota of free-ranging striped plateau lizards, Sceloporus virgatus, using 16s rRNA-based culture independent techniques. Our dataset, generated from cloacal swabs of six males and six females, and based on twenty five 16s rRNA clones from each sample, revealed (i) low overall microbial diversity, (ii) a striking sex asymmetry in microbial community composition with males displaying cloacal microbiota more typical of gastrointestinal residents found in other organisms, while females display only gammaproteobacterial phylotypes, (iii) a significant sex difference in microbial community structure, with females having significantly lower microbial diversity and richness than do males, and (iv) that the diversity of the female microbial community is negatively correlated to her ectoparasitic mite load. It is not yet clear if the female-specific paucity of cloacal microbial diversity is due to host function or microbe-microbe interactions, or whether the relationship to female mite load is causal, however these findings are expected to have relevance to the species' life history and ecology. Although the diversity of microbiota from humans, mice, birds, zebrafish, and invertebrates is widely investigated, this is one of only a few reports in the literature describing the cloacal microbiota of a wild vertebrate, and is perhaps the first report for wild reptiles that utilizes culture-independent techniques.