The raw sequence data of bdelloid rotifer-associated microorganisms and environmental microorganisms

The relationships between hosts and microorganism communities have rarely been studied in bdelloid rotifers, soil microscopic animals (<2 mm) that preferentially feed on microorganisms and can transfer genes horizontally from them. In this study, we assessed bdelloid rotifer diversity, associated microbial communities, and corresponding environmental microbial communities across four different habitats using morphological taxonomy and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Significantly lower diversity and composition differences were observed in microbial communities associated with bdelloid rotifers compared to environmental communities. Interdomain ecological network analysis identified 107 associated operational taxonomic units (1.05% richness and 66.9% abundance in host) co-occurring with bdelloid rotifers from three sources: 13.1% (4.36% abundance in host) existed only in bdelloid rotifers, 40.2% (9.72% and 12.5% abundance in host and environment, respectively) came from the environment, and 46.7% were of uncertain origin (52.8% and 2.82% abundance in host and environment, respectively), indicating that these closely related microorganisms were affected more by the host bdelloid rotifer. Bdelloid rotifers dominated the interdomain ecological network, interacting with various associated microorganisms in a habitat-specific pattern. Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia, Nevskia, and Sphingomonas were identified as the dominant microorganisms in bdelloid rotifers. Based on these results, we propose a conceptual model of the relationships among bdelloid rotifers, their associated microbial communities, and environmental factors. Future studies should verify the mechanisms and causal relationships of host and environment in regulating associated microbial communities.