Seasonal restructuring facilitates compositional convergence of gut microbiota in free-ranging rodents.

ABSTRACT: Gut microbes provide essential services to their host and shifts in their composition can impact host fitness. However, despite advances in our understanding of how microbes are assembled in the gut, we understand little about the stability of these communities within individuals, nor what factors influence its composition over the life of an animal. For this reason, we conducted a longitudinal survey of the gut microbial communities of individual free-ranging woodrats (Neotoma spp.) across a hybrid zone in the Mojave Desert, USA, using amplicon sequencing approaches to characterize gut microbial profiles and diet. We found that gut microbial communities were individualized and experienced compositional restructuring as a result of seasonal transitions and changes in diet. Turnover of gut

SUBMITTER: Klure DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10622585 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature