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Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals

Martin A. Stoffel, Karina Acevedo‐Whitehouse, Nami Morales‐Durán, Stefanie Grosser, Nayden Chakarov, Oliver Krüger, Hazel Nichols Orcid Logo, Fernando R. Elorriaga‐Verplancken, Joseph I. Hoffman

Molecular Ecology, Volume: 29, Issue: 11, Pages: 2109 - 2122

Swansea University Author: Hazel Nichols Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1111/mec.15385

Abstract

The gut microbiome is an integral part of a species’ ecology, but we know little about how host characteristics impact its development in wild populations. Here, we explored the role of such intrinsic factors in shaping the gut microbiome of northern elephant seals during a critical developmental wi...

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Published in: Molecular Ecology
ISSN: 0962-1083 1365-294X
Published: Wiley 2020
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53584
first_indexed 2020-02-20T19:59:29Z
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spelling 2025-03-04T15:32:29.4347685 v2 53584 2020-02-19 Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals 43ba12986bd7754484874c73eed0ebfe 0000-0002-4455-6065 Hazel Nichols Hazel Nichols true false 2020-02-19 BGPS The gut microbiome is an integral part of a species’ ecology, but we know little about how host characteristics impact its development in wild populations. Here, we explored the role of such intrinsic factors in shaping the gut microbiome of northern elephant seals during a critical developmental window of six weeks after weaning, when the pups stay ashore without feeding. We found substantial sex-differences in the early-life gut microbiome, even though males and females could not yet be distinguished morphologically. Sex and age both explained around 15% of the variation in gut microbial beta diversity, while microbial communities sampled from the same individual showed high levels of similarity across time, explaining another 40% of the variation. Only a small proportion of the variation in beta diversity was explained by health status, assessed by full blood counts, but clinically healthy individuals had a greater microbial alpha diversity than their clinically abnormal peers. Across the post-weaning period, the northern elephant seal gut microbiome was highly dynamic. We found evidence for several colonisation and extinction events as well as a decline in Bacteroides and an increase in Prevotella, a pattern that has previously been associated with the transition from nursing to solid food. Lastly, we show that genetic relatedness was correlated with gut microbiome similarity in males but not females, again reflecting early sex-differences. Our study represents a naturally diet-controlled and longitudinal investigation of how intrinsic factors shape the early gut microbiome in a species with extreme sex differences in morphology and life history. Journal Article Molecular Ecology 29 11 2109 2122 Wiley 0962-1083 1365-294X gut microbiome, health, life history, pinnipeds, sex-differences, wild mammal 1 6 2020 2020-06-01 10.1111/mec.15385 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee This research was supported by a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) standard grant (HO 5122/5-1) awarded to J.I.H., as well as a dual PhD studentship from Liverpool John Moores University and a DFG postdoctoral fellowship awarded to M.A.S. The field work was funded by a Genetics Society Heredity fieldwork grant awarded to M.A.S. and by a grant from the Autonomous University of Queretaro (Fund for the Advancement of Scientific Research, 142908) awarded to K.A.W. The sequencing and laboratory work was also partially funded by the Animal Behaviour Department at Bielefeld University. We thank the Mexican Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources for the research permit, as well the Biosphere Reserve of the Pacific Islands off the Baja California Peninsula (CONANP, National Commission for Protected Areas). 2025-03-04T15:32:29.4347685 2020-02-19T13:41:55.7751598 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Martin A. Stoffel 1 Karina Acevedo‐Whitehouse 2 Nami Morales‐Durán 3 Stefanie Grosser 4 Nayden Chakarov 5 Oliver Krüger 6 Hazel Nichols 0000-0002-4455-6065 7 Fernando R. Elorriaga‐Verplancken 8 Joseph I. Hoffman 9 53584__16790__3d8809ec57334a25ae163dade6beac71.pdf 53584.pdf 2020-03-06T14:05:05.4700292 Output 6930820 application/pdf Version of Record true Released under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals
spellingShingle Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals
Hazel Nichols
title_short Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals
title_full Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals
title_fullStr Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals
title_full_unstemmed Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals
title_sort Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals
author_id_str_mv 43ba12986bd7754484874c73eed0ebfe
author_id_fullname_str_mv 43ba12986bd7754484874c73eed0ebfe_***_Hazel Nichols
author Hazel Nichols
author2 Martin A. Stoffel
Karina Acevedo‐Whitehouse
Nami Morales‐Durán
Stefanie Grosser
Nayden Chakarov
Oliver Krüger
Hazel Nichols
Fernando R. Elorriaga‐Verplancken
Joseph I. Hoffman
format Journal article
container_title Molecular Ecology
container_volume 29
container_issue 11
container_start_page 2109
publishDate 2020
institution Swansea University
issn 0962-1083
1365-294X
doi_str_mv 10.1111/mec.15385
publisher Wiley
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
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description The gut microbiome is an integral part of a species’ ecology, but we know little about how host characteristics impact its development in wild populations. Here, we explored the role of such intrinsic factors in shaping the gut microbiome of northern elephant seals during a critical developmental window of six weeks after weaning, when the pups stay ashore without feeding. We found substantial sex-differences in the early-life gut microbiome, even though males and females could not yet be distinguished morphologically. Sex and age both explained around 15% of the variation in gut microbial beta diversity, while microbial communities sampled from the same individual showed high levels of similarity across time, explaining another 40% of the variation. Only a small proportion of the variation in beta diversity was explained by health status, assessed by full blood counts, but clinically healthy individuals had a greater microbial alpha diversity than their clinically abnormal peers. Across the post-weaning period, the northern elephant seal gut microbiome was highly dynamic. We found evidence for several colonisation and extinction events as well as a decline in Bacteroides and an increase in Prevotella, a pattern that has previously been associated with the transition from nursing to solid food. Lastly, we show that genetic relatedness was correlated with gut microbiome similarity in males but not females, again reflecting early sex-differences. Our study represents a naturally diet-controlled and longitudinal investigation of how intrinsic factors shape the early gut microbiome in a species with extreme sex differences in morphology and life history.
published_date 2020-06-01T04:46:28Z
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score 11.089407

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