Menke Sebastian, Meier Matthias, Mfune John K E, Melzheimer Joerg, Wachter Bettina, Sommer Simone
Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein Allee 11, 89069 Ulm, Germany.
Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Straße 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2017 Nov 1;93(11). doi: 10.1093/femsec/fix123.
Host traits and environmental factors drive the natural variation in gut microbiota, and disruption in homeostasis can cause infections and chronic diseases. African wildlife is increasingly facing human-induced agricultural habitats, which also amplifies the contact probability with livestock with unknown consequences for wildlife gut microbiotas and the risk of transmission of potentially pathogenic bacteria. We applied high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes and microsatellite genotyping to investigate the impact of host traits and habitat use on the gut microbiotas of black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas). This abundant carnivore inhabits livestock and game farms in central Namibia and is often persecuted as pathogen reservoir and vector. We further compared the gut microbiotas of black-backed jackals to other wild and domestic carnivores, herbivores and an omnivore, to disentangle the effects of environment, host species and dietary preference. In black-backed jackals, intrinsic host traits had a stronger impact in shaping the host-bacteria relationship than environmental factors. Nevertheless, the abundance of bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) differed in individuals from livestock and game farms for specific bacterial genera such as Lactobacillus and Clostridium. We found, however, no evidence that black-backed jackals harbour abnormal levels of OTUs related to potential bacterial pathogens or that livestock farming has a negative impact on their health. We present here the first study investigating simultaneously the impact of host traits and environmental factors on gut microbiotas of a wildlife carnivore that occurs in a human-modified habitat.
宿主特征和环境因素驱动着肠道微生物群的自然变异，而体内平衡的破坏会导致感染和慢性疾病。非洲野生动物越来越多地面临人类导致的农业栖息地，这也增加了与牲畜接触的可能性，对野生动物肠道微生物群以及潜在致病细菌的传播风险产生未知影响。我们应用细菌16S rRNA基因的高通量测序和微卫星基因分型，来研究宿主特征和栖息地利用对黑背胡狼（Canis mesomelas）肠道微生物群的影响。这种数量众多的食肉动物栖息在纳米比亚中部的牲畜和狩猎农场，常被当作病原体宿主和传播媒介而遭到捕杀。我们进一步将黑背胡狼的肠道微生物群与其他野生和家养的食肉动物、食草动物及一种杂食动物进行比较，以厘清环境、宿主物种和饮食偏好的影响。在黑背胡狼中，内在的宿主特征在塑造宿主 - 细菌关系方面比环境因素的影响更强。然而，对于乳酸杆菌属和梭菌属等特定细菌属，来自牲畜和狩猎农场的个体中细菌可操作分类单元（OTU）的丰度有所不同。不过，我们没有发现证据表明黑背胡狼携带与潜在细菌病原体相关的异常水平的OTU，或者畜牧养殖对它们的健康有负面影响。我们在此展示了第一项同时研究宿主特征和环境因素对生活在人类改造栖息地中的野生食肉动物肠道微生物群影响的研究。
