Changes in the gut microbial community of the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) across its three distinct life stages

ABSTRACT Understanding the forces that shape vertebrate gut microbial community assembly and composition throughout development is a major focus of the microbiome field. Here, we utilize the complex life cycle of the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) as a natural wild model to compare the eff...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:FEMS microbiology ecology 2021-03, Vol.97 (3), p.1
Main Authors: Fontaine, Samantha S, Mineo, Patrick M, Kohl, Kevin D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Analysis
Animal development
Animals
Aquatic habitats
Assembly
Bacteria
Developmental stages
Digestive system
Ecology
Environmental factors
Gastrointestinal Microbiome
Habitats
Host-bacteria relationships
Immune system
Intestinal microflora
Larva
Larvae
Life cycles
Methods
Microbiology
Microbiomes
Microbiota
Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms)
Microorganisms
Notophthalmus viridescens
Physiology
Vertebrates
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Summary:ABSTRACT Understanding the forces that shape vertebrate gut microbial community assembly and composition throughout development is a major focus of the microbiome field. Here, we utilize the complex life cycle of the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) as a natural wild model to compare the effects of host and environmental factors on gut microbiome development. We compared bacterial inventories of each of the newt's three physiologically distinct developmental stages to determine if each hosted a unique community, or if the two stages which share an aquatic habitat (larvae and adults) harbored more similar communities than those of the third stage, the terrestrial juvenile eft. Additionally, we assessed how the contribution of selective processes to gut microbial assembly changed through development. We found that structurally, each life stage harbored a distinct community, which may be attributable to host factors. Further, across development, we found that community assembly processes shifted from a predominance of neutral to selective forces. However, habitat may also be important in determining community membership and diversity due the uniqueness of eft communities based on these metrics. Our results are similar to those in other vertebrate taxa, suggesting that gut microbiota assembly processes may be conserved across diverse lineages. Gut bacterial communities of the eastern newt throughout host development.
ISSN:1574-6941
0168-6496
1574-6941
DOI:10.1093/femsec/fiab021