Consensus multivariate methods in gas chromatography mass spectrometry and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis: MHC-congenic and other strains of mice can be classified according to the profiles of volatiles and microflora in their scent-marks

Zomer, Simeone; Dixon, Sarah J.; Xu, Yun; Jensen, Susanne Plesner; Wang, Huitu; Lanyon, Clare; O'Donnell, Anthony G.; Clare, Anthony S.; Gosling, L. M.; Penn, Dustin J.; Brereton, Richard G.

doi:10.1039/b807061j

Cited by 39 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Here we found that the structures of the bacterial and VFA profiles of hyena pastes strongly covaried. Prior studies using microbial fingerprinting surveys revealed that the bacterial and odor profiles of human axillae covaried among people who adhered to presampling guidelines on bathing and deodorant use (34) and that the bacterial and odor profiles of the urine-marks of laboratory mouse strains, Mus domesticus, were partially correlated (35). The current study focused on wild populations of mammals, and showed strong, consistent covariance between the bacterial and odor profiles of mammalian scent gland secretions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbiotic bacteria appear to mediate hyena social odors

Theis

Venkataraman²,

Dycus³

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

192

169

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All animals harbor beneficial microbes. One way these microbes can benefit their animal hosts is by increasing the diversity and efficacy of communication signals available to the hosts. The fermentation hypothesis for mammalian chemical communication posits that bacteria in the scent glands of mammals generate odorous metabolites used by their hosts for communication and that variation in host chemical signals is a product of underlying variation in the bacterial communities inhabiting the scent glands. An effective test of this hypothesis would require accurate surveys of the bacterial communities in mammals' scent glands and complementary data on the odorant profiles of scent secretions-both of which have been historically lacking. Here we use next-generation sequencing to survey deeply the bacterial communities in the scent glands of wild spotted and striped hyenas. We show that these communities are dominated by fermentative bacteria and that the structures of these communities covary with the volatile fatty acid profiles of scent secretions in both hyena species. The bacterial and volatile fatty acid profiles of secretions differ between spotted and striped hyenas, and both profiles vary with sex and reproductive state among spotted hyenas within a single social group. Our results strongly support the fermentation hypothesis for chemical communication, suggesting that symbiotic bacteria underlie species-specific odors in both spotted and striped hyenas and further underlie sex and reproductive state-specific odors among spotted hyenas. We anticipate that the fermentation hypothesis for chemical communication will prove broadly applicable among scent-marking mammals as others use the technical and analytical approaches used here.animal behavior | animal communication | microbiome

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbiotic bacteria appear to mediate hyena social odors

Theis

Venkataraman²,

Dycus³

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

192

169

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Recently, Zomer et al (2009) investigated the profiles of volatile compounds and microorganisms associated with the scent-marks collected from two BALB MHCcongenic strains and two B10 MHC-congenic strains. Since the volatile profiles of the real scent-marks were highly variable, urine samples (labelled as 'simulated scent-marks') were used for the chemical analyses.…”

Section: Chemical Investigations Of Mhc Odourtype In Micementioning

confidence: 99%

“…To evaluate this conjecture, several groups examined the urinary volatile profiles of MHC-congenic mice derived from different background strains (Eggert et al 1996;Willse et al 2006;Novotny et al 2007;Zomer et al 2009). Eggert et al (1996) investigated the urinary volatile metabolic profiles of BALB/c (H2 d ), BALB/k (H2 k ) and C3H (H2 k ) mice.…”

Section: Chemical Investigations Of Mhc Odourtype In Micementioning

confidence: 99%

In search of the chemical basis for MHC odourtypes

et al. 2010

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Mice can discriminate between chemosignals of individuals based solely on genetic differences confined to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Two different sets of compounds have been suggested: volatile compounds and non-volatile peptides. Here, we focus on volatiles and review a number of publications that have identified MHC-regulated compounds in inbred laboratory mice. Surprisingly, there is little agreement among different studies as to the identity of these compounds. One recent approach to specifying MHC-regulated compounds is to study volatile urinary profiles in mouse strains with varying MHC types, genetic backgrounds and different diets. An unexpected finding from these studies is that the concentrations of numerous compounds are influenced by interactions among these variables. As a result, only a few compounds can be identified that are consistently regulated by MHC variation alone. Nevertheless, since trained animals are readily able to discriminate the MHC differences, it is apparent that chemical studies are somehow missing important information underlying mouse recognition of MHC odourtypes. To make progress in this area, we propose a focus on the search for behaviourally relevant odourants rather than a random search for volatiles that are regulated by MHC variation. Furthermore, there is a need to consider a 'combinatorial odour recognition' code whereby patterns of volatile metabolites (the basis for odours) specify MHC odourtypes.

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“…Differences in MHC-ligand binding efficiency can influence markers used in MHC-type recognition either by restricting different excreted peptide sequences [27,45] or by selecting the microbial biota associated with individuals [46][47][48]. The peptide-binding groove of MHC molecules generates a pool of 9-mer peptides cleaved from longer protein sequences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social discrimination by quantitative assessment of immunogenetic similarity

Villinger

Waldman

2012

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) that underlie the adaptive immune system may allow vertebrates to recognize their kin. True kin-recognition genes should produce signalling products to which organisms can respond. Allelic variation in the peptide-binding region (PBR) of MHC molecules determines the pool of peptides that can be presented to trigger an immune response. To examine whether these MHC peptides also might underlie assessments of genetic similarity, we tested whether Xenopus laevis tadpoles socially discriminate between pairs of siblings with which they differed in PBR amino acid sequences. We found that tadpoles (four sibships, n ¼ 854) associated preferentially with siblings with which they were more similar in PBR amino acid sequence. Moreover, the strength of their preference for a conspecific was directly proportional to the sequence similarity between them. Discrimination was graded, and correlated more closely with functional sequence differences encoded by MHC class I and class II alleles than with numbers of shared haplotypes. Our results thus suggest that haplotype analyses may fail to reveal fine-scale behavioural responses to divergence in functionally expressed sequences. We conclude that MHC -PBR gene products mediate quantitative social assessment of immunogenetic similarity that may facilitate kin recognition in vertebrates.

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Consensus multivariate methods in gas chromatography mass spectrometry and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis: MHC-congenic and other strains of mice can be classified according to the profiles of volatiles and microflora in their scent-marks

Cited by 39 publications

References 37 publications

Symbiotic bacteria appear to mediate hyena social odors

Symbiotic bacteria appear to mediate hyena social odors

In search of the chemical basis for MHC odourtypes

Social discrimination by quantitative assessment of immunogenetic similarity

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