Data from: Host effects on microbiota community assembly

1. To what extent host-associated microbiota assembly is driven by host
selection or simply by happenstance remains an open question in microbiome
research. 2. Here, we take a first step towards elucidating the relative
importance of host selection on the establishing gut microbial community
in an ecologically relevant organism. 3. We presented germ-free bumblebee,
Bombus terrestris, workers from ten colonies with a “global” microbial
species pool comprised of an equal mixture of the gut microbiota of all
colonies. 4. By means of 16S amplicon sequencing, we found that while
overall microbiota community composition was generally shifted between
pool-exposed workers compared to workers that naturally acquired their gut
microbiota, but that the specific composition of the established
microbiota also depended on colony identity (e.g. genetic background). 5.
Because the microbiota is protective against parasite infection in this
system, variation in the filtering of a beneficial microbial community can
have important consequences for host resistance and eventual co-evolution
with parasites.