Isolated Grauer's gorilla populations differ in diet and gut microbiome

Abstract

The animal gut microbiome has been implicated in a number of key biological processes, ranging from digestion to behaviour, and has also been suggested to facilitate local adaptation. Yet studies in wild animals rarely compare multiple populations that differ ecologically, which is the level at which local adaptation may occur. Further, few studies simultaneously characterize diet and gut microbiome from the same sample, despite their probable interdependence. Here, we investigate the interplay between diet and gut microbiome in three geographically isolated populations of the critically endangered Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), which we show to be genetically differentiated. We find population-and social group-specific dietary and gut microbial profiles and covariation between diet and gut microbiome, despite the presence of core microbial taxa. There was no detectable effect of age, and only marginal effects of sex and genetic relatedness on the microbiome. Diet differed considerably across populations, with the high-altitude population consuming a lower diversity of plants compared to low-altitude populations, consistent with plant availability constraining dietary choices. The observed pattern of covariation between diet and gut microbiome is probably a result of long-term social and environmental factors. Our study suggests that the gut microbiome is sufficiently plastic to support flexible food selection and hence contribute to local adaptation.

Insights into Ecological & Evolutionary Processes via community metabarcoding

“…Michel et al. (2022) use metabarcoding methods to investigate the interplay between diet and gut microbiome in several geographically isolated and genetically differentiated populations of the critically endangered Grauer's gorilla. They showed marked differences in the composition (though not richness or evenness) of the diet and gut microbiome of genetically differentiated populations, associated with social, ecological, and geographic factors.…”

“…Several studies examined questions involved in the interaction between animals and their microbiome, looking at the effects of the microbiome on diet and niche. Michel et al (2022) 2022) examined the combined impact of diet and environmental disturbance (salinity and antibiotics) on the gastrointestinal microbiome of aquatic gastropods. The results showed that a transition to salinity led to lower gut community richness and higher host viability, but only when there was an increase in bacterial generalists in the gut.…”

Insights into Ecological & Evolutionary Processes via Community Metabarcoding

“…Several studies examined questions involved in the interaction between animals and their microbiome, looking at the effects of the microbiome on diet and niche. Michel et al (2022) used metabarcoding methods to investigate the interplay between diet and gut microbiome in several geographically isolated and genetically differentiated populations of the critically endangered Grauer's gorilla.They showed marked differences in the composition (though not richness or evenness) of the diet and gut microbiome of genetically differentiated populations, associated with social, ecological, and geographic factors. Manthey et al (2022) tested the hypothesis that the holometabolous insect gut microbiota rapidly remolds during metamorphosis, allowing exploration of novel niches during their ontogenesis.…”

Editorial 2024

“…Finally, our third Special Issue, Insights into Ecological & Evolutionary Processes via Community Metabarcoding includes ‘papers that highlight the power of high‐throughput sequencing (HTS) data to address classic questions in ecology and evolution, particularly focused on metabarcoding (amplicon) datasets in conjunction with complementary ‐omics data types and/or models/theory to infer overall ecosystem processes’ (Gillespie et al., 2023). The impressive collection of 44 manuscripts covers a wide range of topics: community assembly processes (Andujar et al., 2022; Arjona et al., 2022; Emerson et al., 2022; Govender et al., 2022; Guerrieri et al., 2022; Ip, Chang, Oh, et al., 2022; Kiemel et al., 2022; Li et al., 2022; Macheriotou et al., 2023; Menéndez‐Serra et al., 2023; Nappi et al., 2022; Noguerales et al., 2023; Overcast et al., 2023; Pino et al., 2023; Van der Loos et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2022), interaction networks (Ando et al., 2022; Bell et al., 2022; Dürrbaum et al., 2022; Encinas‐Viso et al., 2022; Ficetola & Taberlet, 2023; Graham et al., 2022; Ip, Chang, Tun, et al., 2022; Lowe et al., 2022; Lu et al., 2022; Lue et al., 2022; Pitteloud et al., 2022; Srivathsan et al., 2022; Tommasi et al., 2022), cross‐scale interactions and microbiomes (Brinker et al., 2022; Câmara dos Reis et al., 2022; Hu et al., 2022; Kivistik et al., 2022; Manthey et al., 2022; Merges et al., 2022; Michel et al., 2022; Molina et al., 2022; Navine et al., 2022; Pereira et al., 2022; Perez‐Lamarque & Morlon, 2022; Rolshausen et al., 2022), and invasive species/homogenization (Andrés et al., 2023; Graham et al., 2022; Hampel et al., 2022; Kennedy et al., 2022; Overcast et al., …”