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Host genetic determinants of the gut microbiota of wild mice
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Host genetic determinants of the gut microbiota of wild mice

Taichi A. Suzuk, Megan Phifer-Rixey, Katya L. Mack, Michael J. Sheehan, Dana Lin, Ke Bi and Michael W. Nachman
Molecular ecology, v 28(13), pp 3197-3207
Jul 2019
PMID: 31141224
url
https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc6660988View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified) Open

Abstract

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Ecology Environmental Sciences & Ecology Evolutionary Biology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Science & Technology
Identifying a common set of genes that mediate host-microbial interactions across populations and species of mammals has broad relevance for human health and animal biology. However, the genetic basis of the gut microbial composition in natural populations remains largely unknown outside of humans. Here, we used wild house mouse populations as a model system to ask three major questions: (a) Does host genetic relatedness explain interindividual variation in gut microbial composition? (b) Do population differences in the microbiota persist in a common environment? (c) What are the host genes associated with microbial richness and the relative abundance of bacterial genera? We found that host genetic distance is a strong predictor of the gut microbial composition as characterized by 16S amplicon sequencing. Using a common garden approach, we then identified differences in microbial composition between populations that persisted in a shared laboratory environment. Finally, we used exome sequencing to associate host genetic variants with microbial diversity and relative abundance of microbial taxa in wild mice. We identified 20 genes that were associated with microbial diversity or abundance including a macrophage-derived cytokine (IL12a) that contained three nonsynonymous mutations. Surprisingly, we found a significant overrepresentation of candidate genes that were previously associated with microbial measurements in humans. The homologous genes that overlapped between wild mice and humans included genes that have been associated with traits related to host immunity and obesity in humans. Gene-bacteria associations identified in both humans and wild mice suggest some commonality to the host genetic determinants of gut microbial composition across mammals.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
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