Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Republic of Panama.
Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA.
Nat Ecol Evol. 2019 Mar;3(3):381-389. doi: 10.1038/s41559-019-0798-1. Epub 2019 Feb 18.
Animal-associated microbiomes are integral to host health, yet key biotic and abiotic factors that shape host-associated microbial communities at the global scale remain poorly understood. We investigated global patterns in amphibian skin bacterial communities, incorporating samples from 2,349 individuals representing 205 amphibian species across a broad biogeographic range. We analysed how biotic and abiotic factors correlate with skin microbial communities using multiple statistical approaches. Global amphibian skin bacterial richness was consistently correlated with temperature-associated factors. We found more diverse skin microbiomes in environments with colder winters and less stable thermal conditions compared with environments with warm winters and less annual temperature variation. We used bioinformatically predicted bacterial growth rates, dormancy genes and antibiotic synthesis genes, as well as inferred bacterial thermal growth optima to propose mechanistic hypotheses that may explain the observed patterns. We conclude that temporal and spatial characteristics of the host's macro-environment mediate microbial diversity.
动物相关微生物组对宿主健康至关重要，但在全球范围内，塑造宿主相关微生物群落的关键生物和非生物因素仍知之甚少。我们调查了两栖动物皮肤细菌群落的全球模式，纳入了来自 205 种两栖动物的 2349 个个体的样本，这些动物分布在广泛的生物地理范围内。我们使用多种统计方法分析了生物和非生物因素与皮肤微生物群落的相关性。全球两栖动物皮肤细菌丰富度与与温度相关的因素密切相关。与冬季温暖且年温度变化较小的环境相比，冬季寒冷且热条件较不稳定的环境中，皮肤微生物组多样性更高。我们使用生物信息学预测的细菌生长率、休眠基因和抗生素合成基因，以及推断的细菌热生长最佳温度，提出了可能解释所观察到模式的机制假设。我们得出结论，宿主的宏环境的时间和空间特征调节微生物多样性。
