Capturing species‐wide diversity of the gut microbiota and its relationship with genomic variation in the critically endangered kākāpō

Abstract

Gut microbiota play an essential role in host health with important implications for conservation management of threatened wildlife. While factors such as diet, medication and habitat are known to shape the microbiota, our understanding of the entirety of factors, including the complex role of host genomic background, remains incomplete. Our research on the interaction between the host genome and gut microbiota of the critically endangered kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus), a flightless parrot endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand, represents, to our knowledge, one of the most comprehensive studies of the gastrointestinal bacterial diversity and its relationship with host genomic diversity for virtually an entire threatened species. We conducted a 16S rRNA gene‐based analysis of faecal samples representing the gut microbiota for 84% of kākāpō. This survey was leveraged with exceptional metadata to tease apart the impact of host genomic diversity and factors including sex, age, diet, antibiotics, disease, habitat and sampling date on the kākāpō gut microbiota. We find evidence of a highly polygenic genomic architecture of the gut microbiota and identify putative associations between bacterial diversity and functional pathways related to intestinal homeostasis, inflammation, immunity and metabolism. This improved understanding of the kākāpō gut microbiota—and its relationship with host genomics—can directly benefit kākāpō conservation by providing new insights into the role of the gut microbiome in kākāpō health and disease mitigation. Overall, we anticipate that an integration of microbiome studies in conservation research and management will improve our understanding and realisation of the One Health concept.

Molecular ecology of microbiomes in the wild: Common pitfalls, methodological advances and future directions

“…This approach will enable the identification of host genetic factors, such as immune genes, that are key players in shaping the host microbiome and ultimately the resulting host phenotypes. By integrating both host genome and microbiome data, researchers can make progress at uncovering host-microbiome interactions (Sutherland et al, 2022;West et al, 2023). Incorporation of long-read sequencing and hybrid assembly approaches which utilize both short and long reads now offer exciting opportunities for advancing this research area.…”

Molecular ecology and microbiomes in the wild: methodological advances, common pitfalls and future directions

“…This hologenomic approach will enable the identification of host genetic factors, such as immune genes, that are key players in shaping the host microbiome and ultimately the resulting host phenotypes. By integrating both host genome and microbiome data, researchers can make progress at uncovering host-microbiome interactions (Sutherland et al, 2022;West et al, 2023). Incorporation of long-read sequencing and hybrid assembly approaches which utilize both short and long reads now offer exciting opportunities for advancing this research area.…”