title: Gastrointestinal microbiota of wild and inbred individuals of two house mouse subspecies assessed using high-throughput parallel pyrosequencing.
abstract: The effects of gastrointestinal tract microbiota (GTM) on host physiology and health have been the subject of considerable interest in recent years. While a variety of captive bred species have been used in experiments, the extent to which GTM of captive and/or inbred individuals resembles natural composition and variation in wild populations is poorly understood. Using 454 pyrosequencing, we performed 16S rDNA GTM barcoding for 30 wild house mice (Mus musculus) and wild-derived inbred strain mice belonging to two subspecies (M. m. musculus and M. m. domesticus). Sequenced individuals were selected according to a 2 × 2 experimental design: wild (14) vs. inbred origin (16) and M. m. musculus (15) vs. M. m. domesticus (15). We compared alpha diversity (i.e. number of operational taxonomic units - OTUs), beta diversity (i.e. interindividual variability) and microbiota composition across the four groups. We found no difference between M. m. musculus and M. m. domesticus subspecies, suggesting low effect of genetic differentiation between these two subspecies on GTM structure. Both inbred and wild populations showed the same level of microbial alpha and beta diversity; however, we found strong differentiation in microbiota composition between wild and inbred populations. Relative abundance of ~ 16% of OTUs differed significantly between wild and inbred individuals. As laboratory mice represent the most abundant model for studying the effects of gut microbiota on host metabolism, immunity and neurology, we suggest that the distinctness of laboratory-kept mouse microbiota, which differs from wild mouse microbiota, needs to be considered in future biomedical research.
authors.affiliation: Studenec Research Facility, Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Květná 8, 603 65, Brno, Czech Republic; Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University Prague, Viničná 7, 128 44, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Biodiversity and Molecular Ecology, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Research and Innovation Centre, I-38010, San Michele all'Adige, TN, Italy.
authors.forename: Jakub
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kreisinger
authors.forename: Dagmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cížková
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vohánka
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piálek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000382:microbiology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D054892:Metagenome; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains / Q000382:microbiology*; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: Mus musculus; domestication; hybrid zone; metagenomics; microbiome; symbiosis