Ecological specificity of the metagenome in a set of lower termite species supports contribution of the microbiome to adaptation of the host

Waidele, Lena; Korb, Judith; Voolstra, Christian R.; Dedeine, Franck; Staubach, Fabian

Ecological specificity of the metagenome in a set of lower termite species supports contribution of the microbiome to adaptation of the host

Dateien

Waidele_2-9dtlecx73hjm1.pdfGröße: 1.69 MBDownloads: 158

Datum

2019

Autor:innen

Waidele, Lena

Korb, Judith

Voolstra, Christian R.

Dedeine, Franck

Staubach, Fabian

Open Access-Veröffentlichung

Open Access Gold

Sammlungen

Biologie

Publikationstyp

Zeitschriftenartikel

Publikationsstatus

Published

Erschienen in

Animal Microbiome. BioMed Central. 2019(1), 13. eISSN 2524-4671. Available under: doi: 10.1186/s42523-019-0014-2

Zusammenfassung

Background:
Elucidating the interplay between hosts and their microbiomes in ecological adaptation has become a central theme in evolutionary biology. A textbook example of microbiome-mediated adaptation is the adaptation of lower termites to a wood-based diet, as they depend on their gut microbiome to digest wood. Lower termites have further adapted to different life types. Termites of the wood-dwelling life type never leave their nests and feed on a uniform diet. Termites of the foraging life type forage for food outside the nest and have access to other nutrients. Here we sought to investigate whether the microbiome that is involved in food substrate breakdown and nutrient acquisition might contribute to adaptation to these dietary differences. We reasoned that this should leave ecological imprints on the microbiome.

Results:
We investigated the protist and bacterial microbiomes of a total of 29 replicate colonies from five termite species, covering both life types, using metagenomic shotgun sequencing. The microbiome of wood-dwelling species with a uniform wood diet was enriched for genes involved in lignocellulose degradation. Furthermore, metagenomic patterns suggest that the microbiome of wood-dwelling species relied primarily on direct fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, while the microbiome of foraging species entailed the necessary pathways to utilize nitrogen in the form of nitrate for example from soil.

Conclusion:
Our findings are consistent with the notion that the microbiome of wood-dwelling species bears an imprint of its specialization on degrading a uniform wood diet, while the microbiome of the foraging species might reflect its adaption to access growth limiting nutrients from more diverse sources. This supports the idea that specific subsets of functions encoded by the microbiome can contribute to host adaptation.

Fachgebiet (DDC)

570 Biowissenschaften, Biologie

Schlagwörter

Lower termites, Metagenomics, Ecology, Adaptation

Zitieren

ISO 690

WAIDELE, Lena, Judith KORB, Christian R. VOOLSTRA, Franck DEDEINE, Fabian STAUBACH, 2019. Ecological specificity of the metagenome in a set of lower termite species supports contribution of the microbiome to adaptation of the host. In: Animal Microbiome. BioMed Central. 2019(1), 13. eISSN 2524-4671. Available under: doi: 10.1186/s42523-019-0014-2

BibTex

@article{Waidele2019-12Ecolo-50709,
  year={2019},
  doi={10.1186/s42523-019-0014-2},
  title={Ecological specificity of the metagenome in a set of lower termite species supports contribution of the microbiome to adaptation of the host},
  number={1},
  journal={Animal Microbiome},
  author={Waidele, Lena and Korb, Judith and Voolstra, Christian R. and Dedeine, Franck and Staubach, Fabian},
  note={Article Number: 13}
}

RDF

<rdf:RDF
    xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
    xmlns:bibo="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/"
    xmlns:dspace="http://digital-repositories.org/ontologies/dspace/0.1.0#"
    xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"
    xmlns:void="http://rdfs.org/ns/void#"
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#" > 
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/50709">
    <dc:contributor>Korb, Judith</dc:contributor>
    <dc:contributor>Voolstra, Christian R.</dc:contributor>
    <dc:creator>Voolstra, Christian R.</dc:creator>
    <void:sparqlEndpoint rdf:resource="http://localhost/fuseki/dspace/sparql"/>
    <dc:rights>Attribution 4.0 International</dc:rights>
    <dc:date rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2020-09-07T14:26:51Z</dc:date>
    <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://localhost:8080/"/>
    <dc:creator>Korb, Judith</dc:creator>
    <dc:creator>Staubach, Fabian</dc:creator>
    <dc:contributor>Waidele, Lena</dc:contributor>
    <dcterms:abstract xml:lang="eng">Background:&lt;br /&gt;Elucidating the interplay between hosts and their microbiomes in ecological adaptation has become a central theme in evolutionary biology. A textbook example of microbiome-mediated adaptation is the adaptation of lower termites to a wood-based diet, as they depend on their gut microbiome to digest wood. Lower termites have further adapted to different life types. Termites of the wood-dwelling life type never leave their nests and feed on a uniform diet. Termites of the foraging life type forage for food outside the nest and have access to other nutrients. Here we sought to investigate whether the microbiome that is involved in food substrate breakdown and nutrient acquisition might contribute to adaptation to these dietary differences. We reasoned that this should leave ecological imprints on the microbiome.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Results:&lt;br /&gt;We investigated the protist and bacterial microbiomes of a total of 29 replicate colonies from five termite species, covering both life types, using metagenomic shotgun sequencing. The microbiome of wood-dwelling species with a uniform wood diet was enriched for genes involved in lignocellulose degradation. Furthermore, metagenomic patterns suggest that the microbiome of wood-dwelling species relied primarily on direct fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, while the microbiome of foraging species entailed the necessary pathways to utilize nitrogen in the form of nitrate for example from soil.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Conclusion:&lt;br /&gt;Our findings are consistent with the notion that the microbiome of wood-dwelling species bears an imprint of its specialization on degrading a uniform wood diet, while the microbiome of the foraging species might reflect its adaption to access growth limiting nutrients from more diverse sources. This supports the idea that specific subsets of functions encoded by the microbiome can contribute to host adaptation.</dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:hasPart rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/123456789/50709/3/Waidele_2-9dtlecx73hjm1.pdf"/>
    <bibo:uri rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/handle/123456789/50709"/>
    <dc:creator>Dedeine, Franck</dc:creator>
    <dc:contributor>Staubach, Fabian</dc:contributor>
    <dc:language>eng</dc:language>
    <dc:creator>Waidele, Lena</dc:creator>
    <dcterms:issued>2019-12</dcterms:issued>
    <dcterms:rights rdf:resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"/>
    <dc:contributor>Dedeine, Franck</dc:contributor>
    <dspace:hasBitstream rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/123456789/50709/3/Waidele_2-9dtlecx73hjm1.pdf"/>
    <dcterms:available rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2020-09-07T14:26:51Z</dcterms:available>
    <dspace:isPartOfCollection rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/28"/>
    <dcterms:title>Ecological specificity of the metagenome in a set of lower termite species supports contribution of the microbiome to adaptation of the host</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:isPartOf rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/28"/>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

Universitätsbibliographie

Ja

Begutachtet

Ja