Data_Sheet_1_The influence of species identity and geographic locations on gut microbiota of small rodents.PDF

Although the correlation between gut microbiota, species identity and geographic locations has long attracted the interest of scientists, to what extent species identity and geographic locations influence the gut microbiota assemblages in granivorous rodents needs further investigation. In this study, we performed a survey of gut microbial communities of four rodent species (Apodemus agrarius, A. peninsulae, Tamias sibiricus and Clethrionomys rufocanus) distributed in two areas with great distance (> 600 km apart), to assess if species identity dominates over geographic locations in shaping gut microbial profiles using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We found that gut microbiota composition varied significantly across host species and was closely correlated with host genetics. We identified strong species identity effects on gut microbial composition, with a comparatively weaker signal of geographic provenance on the intestinal microbiota. Specifically, microbiota of one species was on average more similar to that of conspecifics living in separate sites than to members of a closely related species living in the same location. Our study suggests that both host genetics and geographical variations influence gut microbial diversity of four rodent species, which merits further investigation to reveal the patterns of phylogenetic correlation of gut microbial community assembly in mammals across multiple habitats.

尽管肠道微生物群、宿主物种身份与地理区位之间的关联长期以来一直受到科学家们的关注，但食谷啮齿动物的肠道微生物群落组装在多大程度上受宿主物种身份和地理区位的影响，仍有待进一步研究。本研究对分布于两个相距超600公里的区域的4种啮齿动物（黑线姬鼠（Apodemus agrarius）、大林姬鼠（Apodemus peninsulae）、西伯利亚花鼠（Tamias sibiricus）及棕背䶄（Clethrionomys rufocanus））的肠道微生物群落进行了调查，通过16S rRNA基因测序（16S rRNA gene sequencing）技术，评估宿主物种身份是否在塑造肠道微生物谱上优于地理区位。研究结果显示，肠道微生物群组成在不同宿主物种间存在显著差异，且与宿主遗传学特征密切相关。我们鉴定出宿主物种身份对肠道微生物组成具有显著影响，而地理起源对肠道微生物组的影响相对较弱。具体而言，某一物种的肠道微生物群平均而言与分布于不同栖息地的同种个体更为相似，而非与同地分布的近缘物种个体。本研究表明，宿主遗传学与地理变异均会对4种啮齿动物的肠道微生物多样性产生影响，该结果值得进一步开展研究，以揭示哺乳动物肠道微生物群落组装的系统发育关联模式在不同生境中的分布规律。