Hierarchical social networks shape gut microbial composition in wild Verreaux's sifaka

In wild primates, social behaviour influences exposure to environmentally acquired and directly transmitted microorganisms. Prior studies indicate that gut microbiota reflect pairwise social interactions among chimpanzee and baboon hosts. Here, we demonstrate that higher-order social network structure—beyond just pairwise interactions—drives gut bacterial composition in wild lemurs, which live in smaller and more cohesive groups than previously studied anthropoid species. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and social network analysis of grooming contacts, we estimate the relative impacts of hierarchical (i.e. multilevel) social structure, individual demographic traits, diet, scent-marking, and habitat overlap on bacteria acquisition in a wild population of Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) consisting of seven social groups. We show that social group membership is clearly reflected in the microbiomes of individual sifaka, and that social groups with denser grooming networks have more...,
sifaka_GLMM_covariates_duration
Place in \"data\" folder before running analyses. For use in pairwise_dissimilarity_predictors.R script

beta_groom_same_12mo
Place in \"data\" folder before running analyses. For use in beta_div_glmms.R script.

Animal_DOB_sex
Place in \"data\" folder before running analyses.

Perofsky_mapping_file_sifaka
QIIME mapping file. Place in \"data\" folder before running analyses.

sifaka_relatedness
Matrix of genetic relatedness values among sifaka. Place in \"data\" folder before running analyses. For use in mantel_tests_relatedness_vs_microbiome.R script.

social_group_matrix_2012
Place in \"data\" folder before running analyses. For use in mantel_tests_relatedness_vs_microbiome.R script.

sifaka_unifrac_weighted_marked_openref
Matrix of weighted Unifrac distances among microbiome samples. Place in \"data\" folder before running analyses.

sifaka_trimmed_phyloseq_raw_openref
Phyloseq object containing raw OTU counts (but with infrequent OTUs taken out). Place in \"...,