title: Stress and the microbiome: linking glucocorticoids to bacterial community dynamics in wild red squirrels.
abstract: Bacterial diversity within animals is emerging as an essential component of health, but it is unknown how stress may influence the microbiome. We quantify a proximate link between the oral microbiome and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity using faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM) in wild red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). Not only was bacterial diversity lower at higher levels of FGM, but also between capture periods a change in bacterial relative abundance was related to an increase in FGM. These linkages between the HPA axis and microbiome communities represent a powerful capacity for stress to have multi-dimensional effects on health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Mason R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Stothart
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6.
authors.forename: Colleen B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Bobbie
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6.
authors.forename: Albrecht I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Schulte-Hostedde
authors.affiliation: Centre for Neurobiology of Stress, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1C 1A4.
authors.forename: Rudy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Boonstra
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna 1210, Austria.
authors.forename: Rupert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Palme
authors.affiliation: Living with Lakes Centre, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6.
authors.forename: Nadia C S
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Mykytczuk
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 newman01@uoguelph.ca.
authors.forename: Amy E M
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Newman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000032:analysis*; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D064307:Microbiota; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000502:physiology; D012589:Sciuridae / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids
keywords: hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis; illumina sequencing; microbiome diversity