The meta-gut: community coalescence of animal gut and environmental microbiomes.

ABSTRACT: All animals carry specialized microbiomes, and their gut microbiota are continuously released into the environment through excretion of waste. Here we propose the meta-gut as a novel conceptual framework that addresses the ability of the gut microbiome released from an animal to function outside the host and alter biogeochemical processes mediated by microbes. We demonstrate this dynamic in the hippopotamus (hippo) and the pools they inhabit. We used natural field gradients and experimental approaches to examine fecal and pool water microbial communities and aquatic biogeochemistry across a range of hippo inputs. Sequencing using 16S RNA methods revealed community coalescence between hippo gut microbiomes and the active microbial communities in hippo pools that received high inputs of hipp

SUBMITTER: Dutton CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8633035 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature