RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Gut microbiome disturbances of altricial Blue and Great tit nestlings are countered by continuous microbial inoculations from parental microbiomes
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.02.20.481211
DO 10.1101/2022.02.20.481211
A1 David Diez-Méndez
A1 Kasun H. Bodawatta
A1 Inga Freiberga
A1 Irena Klečková
A1 Knud A. Jønsson
A1 Michael Poulsen
A1 Katerina Sam
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/02/21/2022.02.20.481211.abstract
AB Gut microbial communities are complex and heterogeneous and play critical roles for animal hosts. Early-life disruptions to microbiome establishment can negatively impact host fitness and development. However, the consequences of such early-life disruptions are unknown in wild birds. To help fill this gap, after validating the disruptive influence of antibiotic and probiotic treatments on the gut microbiome in adult Great tits (Parus major) (efficacy experiment), we investigated the effect of continuous early-life gut microbiome disruptions on the establishment and development of gut communities in wild Great and Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nestlings (field experiment). Despite negative impacts of treatments on microbial alpha and beta diversities in the efficacy experiment, treatment did not affect the composition of nestling microbiomes in the field experiment. Independent of treatment, nestling gut microbiomes of both species grouped by brood, sharing high numbers of bacterial taxa with both the nest environment and their mother. The distance between nests increased inter-brood microbiome dissimilarity, but only in Great tits, indicating species-specific influence of environment on microbiomes. The strong maternal effect, driven by continuous recolonization from the nest environment and vertical transfer of microbes during feeding thus appear to provide resilience towards early-life disruptions in nestling gut microbiomes.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.