Localization of bacterial communities within gut compartments across Cephalotes turtle ants.

ABSTRACT: Microbial communities within the animal digestive tract often provide important functions for their hosts. The composition of eukaryotes' gut bacteria can be shaped by host diet, vertical bacterial transmission, and physiological variation within the digestive tract. In several ant taxa, recent findings have demonstrated that nitrogen provisioning by symbiotic bacteria makes up for deficiencies in herbivorous diets. Using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and qPCR, this study examined bacterial communities at a fine scale across one such animal group, the turtle ant genus Cephalotes We analyzed the composition and colonization density across four portions of the digestive tract to understand how bacterial diversity is structured across gut compartments, potentially allowing for specific

SUBMITTER: Flynn PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8091110 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature