Martínez-Renau Ester, Martín-Platero Antonio M, Bodawatta Kasun H, Martín-Vivaldi Manuel, Martínez-Bueno Manuel, Poulsen Michael, Soler Juan José
Departamento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (CSIC), 04120, Almería, Spain.
Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain.
Anim Microbiome. 2024 Aug 15;6(1):47. doi: 10.1186/s42523-024-00327-2.
Animal bacterial symbionts are established early in life, either through vertical transmission and/or by horizontal transmission from both the physical and the social environment, such as direct contact with con- or heterospecifics. The social environment particularly can influence the acquisition of both mutualistic and pathogenic bacteria, with consequences for the stability of symbiotic communities. However, segregating the effects of the shared physical environment from those of the social interactions is challenging, limiting our current knowledge on the role of the social environment in structuring bacterial communities in wild animals. Here, we take advantage of the avian brood-parasite system of Eurasian magpies (Pica pica) and great spotted cuckoos (Clamator glandarius) to explore how the interspecific social environment (magpie nestlings developing with or without heterospecifics) affects bacterial communities on uropygial gland skin.
We demonstrated interspecific differences in bacterial community compositions in members of the two species when growing up in monospecific nests. However, the bacterial community of magpies in heterospecific nests was richer, more diverse, and more similar to their cuckoo nest-mates than when growing up in monospecific nests. These patterns were alike for the subset of microbes that could be considered core, but when looking at the subset of potentially pathogenic bacterial genera, cuckoo presence reduced the relative abundance of potentially pathogenic bacterial genera on magpies.
Our findings highlight the role of social interactions in shaping the assembly of the avian skin bacterial communities during the nestling period, as exemplified in a brood parasite-host system.
动物的细菌共生体在生命早期就已建立，其途径包括垂直传播和/或从物理及社会环境中进行水平传播，例如与同种或异种个体直接接触。社会环境尤其会影响互利共生菌和病原菌的获取，进而影响共生群落的稳定性。然而，区分共享物理环境和社会互动的影响具有挑战性，这限制了我们目前对社会环境在构建野生动物细菌群落中作用的认识。在此，我们利用欧亚喜鹊（Pica pica）和大斑杜鹃（Clamator glandarius）的鸟类巢寄生系统，来探究种间社会环境（与异种个体一起或不与异种个体一起生长的喜鹊雏鸟）如何影响尾脂腺皮肤上的细菌群落。
我们证明，在单物种巢中成长时，这两个物种成员的细菌群落组成存在种间差异。然而，与在单物种巢中成长相比，在异种巢中的喜鹊细菌群落更丰富、更多样，且与其杜鹃巢伴更相似。对于可被视为核心的微生物子集而言，这些模式是相似的，但在查看潜在致病细菌属的子集时，杜鹃的存在降低了喜鹊身上潜在致病细菌属的相对丰度。
我们的研究结果突出了社会互动在雏鸟期塑造鸟类皮肤细菌群落组装过程中的作用，这在巢寄生宿主系统中得到了体现。
