Bacterial communities in meerkat anal scent secretions vary with host sex, age, and group membership
Bacterial communities in meerkat anal scent secretions vary with host sex, age, and group membership
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DOI：
10.1093/beheco/aru074
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发表时间：
2014-07-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Drea, Christine M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Leclaire, Sarah;Nielsen, Johanna F.;Drea, Christine M.
长期以来，人们一直怀疑细菌发酵对脊椎动物气味信号的产生有贡献，但关于推动动物气味分泌物中微生物组成变化的因素的信息仍然相对较少。我们的研究对象是猫鼬(Suricata Suricatta)，它是一种社会性的猫鼬，生活在领土上的家庭群体中，严重依赖气味进行社交。在哺乳动物研究中不同寻常的是，居住在同一生态系统中的多个群体存在着广泛的生活史数据，这使得对宿主微生物群落中的个体差异和群体差异的研究成为可能。使用独立于培养的采样技术，我们探索了信号者的性别、年龄/优势、基因型或群体成员之间的关系，以及其肛门气味分泌物的微生物区系。我们发现雄性和雌性动物的微生物区系存在差异，但只有在动物达到性成熟之后。虽然猫鼬气味分泌物中的细菌群落并不比非亲属之间的细菌群落更相似，但同一组成员之间的细菌群落比不同组成员之间的细菌群落更相似。总体而言，这些结果与生殖激素在决定宿主细菌组合方面的潜在作用以及社会性(如组内异种标记行为)和/或微生境在获得细菌组合方面的影响是一致的。这项研究为理解微生物在哺乳动物气味成分变化中的作用提供了一个关键的起点。
The contribution of bacterial fermentation to the production of vertebrate scent signals has long been suspected, but there is still relatively little information about the factors driving variation in microbial composition in animal scent secretions. Our study subject, the meerkat (Suricata suricatta), is a social mongoose that lives in territorial, family groups and relies heavily on scent for social communication. Unusually in mammalian research, extensive life-history data exist for multiple groups inhabiting the same ecosystem, allowing for a study of both individual variation and group differences in the host's microbial communities. Using a culture-independent sampling technique, we explored the relationship between a signaler's sex, age/dominance, genotype or group membership, and the microbiota of its anal scent secretions. We found differences in the microbiota of males and females, but only after the animals had reached sexual maturity. Although bacterial communities in meerkat scent secretions were not more similar between kin than between nonkin, they were more similar between members of the same group than between members of different groups. Collectively, these results are consistent with a potential role for reproductive hormones in determining a host's bacterial assemblages, as well as an influence of sociality (such as intragroup allo-marking behavior) and/or microhabitat in the acquisition of bacterial assemblages. This study provides a key starting point for understanding the role of microbes in the variation of scent composition in mammals.