Strong effects of lab-to-field environmental transitions on the bacterial intestinal microbiota of Mus musculus are modulated by Trichuris murisinfection. Issue 10 (20th August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bär, Julian; Leung, Jacqueline M; Hansen, Christina; Loke, P'ng; Hall, Alex R; Conour, Laura; Graham, Andrea L
• Is Part Of: FEMS microbiology ecology. Volume 96:Issue 10(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-08-20
• Subjects: environment -- gut microbiota -- 16S rRNA sequencing -- Trichuris muris -- Mus musculus; Microbial ecology -- Periodicals; Microbiology -- Periodicals; 579.17
• DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiaa167
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0168-6496

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Studies of controlled lab animals and natural populations represent two insightful extremes of microbiota research. We bridged these two approaches by transferring lab-bred female C57BL/6 mice from a conventional mouse facility to an acclimation room and then to an outdoor enclosure, to investigate how the gut microbiota changes with environment. Mice residing under constant conditions served as controls. Using 16S rRNA sequencing of fecal samples, we found that the shift in temperature and humidity, as well as exposure to a natural environment, increased microbiota diversity and altered community composition. Community composition in mice exposed to high temperatures and humidity diverged as much from the microbiota of mice housed outdoors as from the microbiota of control mice. Additionally, infection with the nematode Trichuris muris modulated how the microbiota responded to environmental transitions: The dynamics of several families were buffered by the nematodes, while invasion rates of two taxa acquired outdoors were magnified. These findings suggest that gut bacterial communities respond dynamically and simultaneously to changes within the host's body (e.g. the presence of nematodes) and to changes in the wider environment of the host. Abstract : The intestinal bacterial microbiota of mice is dynamically responding to changes in the external environment of the host and the type of response is modulated by gastrointestinal worm infection.