Social environment and genetics underlie body site specific microbiomes of Yellowstone National Park gray wolves (Canis lupus)

We examined the factors underlying microbiome composition in a wild, pedigreed population of mammalian carnivores: gray wolves (Canis lupus) living in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA. Using microbiome data generated via 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing (hypervariable region 4) and host genetic data generated via restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-sequencing), we found that host genetics and social environment are two factors consistently predictive of host-associated microbial communities.