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Environmental radiation alters the gut microbiome of the bank vole Myodes glareolus.

ABSTRACT: Gut microbiota composition depends on many factors, although the impact of environmental pollution is largely unknown. We used amplicon sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes to quantify whether anthropogenic radionuclides at Chernobyl (Ukraine) impact the gut microbiome of the bank vole Myodes glareolus. Exposure to elevated levels of environmental radionuclides had no detectable effect on the gut community richness but was associated with an almost two-fold increase in the Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio. Animals inhabiting uncontaminated areas had remarkably similar gut communities irrespective of their proximity to the nuclear power plant. Hence, samples could be classified to high-radiation or low-radiation sites based solely on microbial community with >90% accuracy. Radiation-associated bacteria had distinct inferred functional profiles, including pathways involved in degradation, assimilation and transport of carbohydrates, xenobiotics biodegradation, and DNA repair. Our results suggest that exposure to environmental radionuclides significantly alters vertebrate gut microbiota.

SUBMITTER: Lavrinienko A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6193954 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Environmental radiation alters the gut microbiome of the bank vole Myodes glareolus.

Lavrinienko Anton A Mappes Tapio T Tukalenko Eugene E Mousseau Timothy A TA Møller Anders P AP Knight Rob R Morton James T JT Thompson Luke R LR Watts Phillip C PC

The ISME journal 20180709 11

Gut microbiota composition depends on many factors, although the impact of environmental pollution is largely unknown. We used amplicon sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes to quantify whether anthropogenic radionuclides at Chernobyl (Ukraine) impact the gut microbiome of the bank vole Myodes glareolus. Exposure to elevated levels of environmental radionuclides had no detectable effect on the gut community richness but was associated with an almost two-fold increase in the Firmicutes:Bacteroid ...[more]

PMID: 29988064

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Project description:BackgroundChemical communication in mammals involves globular lipocalins that protect and transport pheromones during their passage out of the body. Efficient communication via this protein - pheromone complex is essential for triggering multiple responses including aggression, mate choice, copulatory behaviour, and onset and synchronization of oestrus. The roles of lipocalins in communication were studied in many organisms and especially in mice (i.e. Mus musculus domesticus) which excrete Major Urinary Proteins (Mup) in excessive amounts in saliva and urine. Other mammals, however, often lack the genes for Mups or their expression is very low. Therefore, we aimed at characterization of candidate lipocalins in Myodes glareolus which are potentially linked to chemical communication. One of them is Aphrodisin which is a unique lipocalin that was previously described from hamster vaginal discharge and is known to carry pheromones stimulating copulatory behaviour in males.ResultsHere we show that Aphrodisin-like proteins exist in other species, belong to a group of Odorant Binding Proteins (Obp), and contrary to the expression of Aphrodisin only in hamster genital tract and parotid glands of females, we have detected these transcripts in both sexes of M. glareolus with the expression confirmed in various tissues including prostate, prepucial and salivary glands, liver and uterus. On the level of mRNA, we have detected three different gene variants. To assess their relevance for chemical communication we investigated the occurrence of particular proteins in saliva, urine and vaginal discharge. On the protein level we confirmed the presence of Obp2 and Obp3 in both saliva and urine. Appropriate bands in the range of 17-20 kDa from vaginal discharge were, however, beyond the MS detection limits.ConclusionOur results demonstrate that three novel Obps (Obp1, Obp2, and Obp3) are predominant lipocalins in Myodes urine and saliva. On the protein level we have detected further variants and thus we assume that similarly as Major Urinary Proteins in mice, these proteins may be important in chemical communication in this Cricetid rodent.

Project description:BackgroundUnderstanding the genetic basis of adaptive changes has been a major goal of evolutionary biology. In complex organisms without sequenced genomes, de novo transcriptome assembly using a longer read sequencing technology followed by expression profiling using short reads is likely to provide comprehensive identification of adaptive variation at the expression level and sequence polymorphisms in coding regions. We performed sequencing and de novo assembly of the bank vole heart transcriptome in lines selected for high metabolism and unselected controls.ResultsA single 454 Titanium run produced over million reads, which were assembled into 63,581 contigs. Searches against the SwissProt protein database and the ENSEMBL collection of mouse transcripts detected similarity to 11,181 and 14,051 genes, respectively. As judged by the representation of genes from the heart-related Gene Ontology categories and UniGenes detected in the mouse heart, our detection of the genes expressed in the heart was nearly complete (> 95% and almost 90% respectively). On average, 38.7% of the transcript length was covered by our sequences, with notably higher (45.0%) coverage of coding regions than of untranslated regions (24.5% of 5' and 32.7% of 3'UTRs). Lower sequence conservation between mouse and bank vole in untranslated regions was found to be partially responsible for poorer UTR representation. Our data might suggest a widespread transcription from noncoding genomic regions, a finding not reported in previous studies regarding transcriptomes in non-model organisms. We also identified over 19 thousand putative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A much higher fraction of the SNPs than expected by chance exhibited variant frequency differences between selection regimes.ConclusionLonger reads and higher sequence yield per run provided by the 454 Titanium technology in comparison to earlier generations of pyrosequencing proved beneficial for the quality of assembly. An almost full representation of genes known to be expressed in the mouse heart was identified. Usage of the extensive genomic resources available for the house mouse, a moderately (20-40 mln years) divergent relative of the voles, enabled a comprehensive assessment of the transcript completeness. Transcript sequences generated in the present study allowed the identification of candidate SNPs associated with divergence of selection lines and constitute a valuable permanent resource forming a foundation for RNAseq experiments aiming at detection of adaptive changes both at the level of gene expression and sequence variants, that would facilitate studies of the genetic basis of evolutionary divergence.

Dataset Information

Environmental radiation alters the gut microbiome of the bank vole Myodes glareolus.

Publications

Environmental radiation alters the gut microbiome of the bank vole Myodes glareolus.

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