Ecological and evolutionary determinants of microbial community composition on the amphibian skin

两栖动物皮肤微生物群落组成的生态和进化决定因素

• 批准号: 244508238
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Miguel Vences
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Zoologisches Institut
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2013-12-31 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/244508238?language=en
• 关键词: Ecological; evolutionary; determinants; microbial; community

Amphibians are a vertebrate group with a high proportion of species threatened with extinction, to a great part due to emerging pathogens. They are also well-known for the variety of toxins in their skin which are assumed to have evolved as a antimicrobial defense but which might also undergo microbe-mediated biotransformation. Knowledge on the microbial communities associated with the amphibian skin is surprisingly scarce despite their importance to understand ecology and evolution and improve conservation of amphibians. The proposed project aims at understanding the patterns of microbial communities in the amphibian skin, their assembly process, and their influence on toxin production. It will combine (i) screening of prokaryotic community composition using 454 and Illumina sequencing of samples from German and Madagascan amphibians, (ii) testing for host-phylogeny vs. habitat influences on these communities, (iii) assess positive and negative species associations among microbes, (iv) monitor microbe community dynamics on the same amphibian specimen over time, and community assembly after antibiotic treatment, and (v) screen amphibian macroglands for presence of symbiontic bacteria and screen changes in toxin production before and after antibiotic treatment. Data will be analysed to test various hypotheses such as a lower diversity of prokaryotic communities on the amphibian skin compared to other skin habitats due to the large amount of antimicrobial substances, the origin of these communities from the environment rather than vertical transmission, and the involvement of skin microbes in production and biotransformation of amphibian toxins.

两栖动物是一个脊椎动物群体，有很高比例的物种面临灭绝的威胁，很大程度上是由于新出现的病原体。它们也因其皮肤中的各种毒素而闻名，这些毒素被认为是作为抗菌防御而进化的，但也可能经历微生物介导的生物转化。两栖动物皮肤相关的微生物群落的知识是令人惊讶的稀缺，尽管他们的重要性，了解生态和进化，并提高两栖动物的保护。拟议的项目旨在了解两栖动物皮肤中微生物群落的模式，它们的组装过程及其对毒素产生的影响。它将结合联合收割机（i）使用454和Illumina测序对德国和马达加斯加两栖动物样品的原核生物群落组成进行筛选，（ii）测试宿主发育与栖息地对这些群落的影响，（iii）评估微生物之间的正和负物种关联，（iv）监测同一两栖动物标本上随时间推移的微生物群落动态，以及抗生素处理后的群落组装，和（v）筛选两栖动物大腺中共生细菌的存在，并筛选抗生素处理前后毒素产生的变化。数据将进行分析，以测试各种假设，如较低的多样性的原核生物群落的两栖动物皮肤相比，其他皮肤的栖息地，由于大量的抗菌物质，这些社区的起源，而不是垂直传播的环境，并参与皮肤微生物的生产和生物转化的两栖动物毒素。