Bighorn sheep gut microbiomes associate with genetic and spatial structure across a metapopulation.

ABSTRACT: Studies in laboratory animals demonstrate important relationships between environment, host traits, and microbiome composition. However, host-microbiome relationships in natural systems are understudied. Here, we investigate metapopulation-scale microbiome variation in a wild mammalian host, the desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni). We sought to identify over-represented microbial clades and understand how landscape variables and host traits influence microbiome composition across the host metapopulation. To address these questions, we performed 16S sequencing on fecal DNA samples from thirty-nine bighorn sheep across seven loosely connected populations in the Mojave Desert and assessed relationships between microbiome composition, environmental variation, geographic distribution

SUBMITTER: Couch CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7171152 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature