In:
mBio, American Society for Microbiology, Vol. 9, No. 2 ( 2018-05-02)
Abstract:
The intestinal microbiome of animals is essential for health, contributing to digestion of foods, proper immune development, inhibition of pathogen colonization, and catabolism of xenobiotic compounds. How these communities assemble and persist is just beginning to be investigated. Here we interrogated a set of gut samples from a wide range of animals to investigate the roles of selection and random processes in microbial community construction. We show that the numbers of bacterial species increased with the weight of host organisms, paralleling findings from studies of island biogeography. Communities in larger organisms tended to be more anaerobic, suggesting one mechanism for niche diversification. Nonselective processes enable specific predictions for community structure, but our samples did not match the predictions of the neutral model. Thus, these findings highlight the importance of niche selection in community construction and suggest mechanisms of niche diversification.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2161-2129
,
2150-7511
DOI:
10.1128/mBio.00319-18
Language:
English
Publisher:
American Society for Microbiology
Publication Date:
2018
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2557172-2