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ARS Home » Plains Area » Kerrville, Texas » Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory » Livestock Arthropod Pest Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #376967
Research Project: Integrated Pest Management of Flies of Veterinary Importance

Location: Livestock Arthropod Pest Research Unit

Title: Phylogenetic relationship and habitat both impact the gut microbiome in two microendemic gastropods

Author
item WALTERS, ASHLEY - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item Arp, Alex
item CERBIE, GINA - Miami University - Ohio
item TRUJILLO, DANIEL - Department Of Fish And Wildlife
item KISS, ANDOR - Miami University - Ohio
item BERG, DAVID - Miami University - Ohio

Submitted to: Journal of Molluscan Studies
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2021
Publication Date: 3/2/2022
Citation: Walters, A.D., Arp, A.P., Cerbie, G.M., Trujillo, D.A., Kiss, A.J., Berg, D.J. 2022. Phylogenetic relationship and habitat both impact the gut microbiome in two microendemic gastropods. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 88. https://doi.org/10.1093/mollus/eyac002.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mollus/eyac002

Interpretive Summary: The microbial community of an organism can be influenced by their behavior, diet, habitat, and evolutionary history, and can also play a role in its physiology and development. In this paper the microbiome of two species of endangered snails, Juturnia kosteri and Pyrgulopsis roswellensis, living in isolated springs in New Mexico were explored. Typically these two species do not co-occur, but the samples used in this study were collected in the same area providing an opportunity to explore if location or species would drive changes in the microbiome. Analysis of the microbiomes revealed that both species and location influenced the microbial diversity. At one site the snails' microbial community was more similar, reflecting that they were utilizing the same stream area when collected, while the other site the two species were utilizing differing areas of the stream and had unique microbial communities.

Technical Abstract: Bacterial communities associated with eukaryotes play important roles in the physiology, development, and health of their hosts. Additionally, the composition of microbes associated with eukaryotes can be indicative of evolutionary history, environment, and life history. Here we investigated the microbial ecology of two sympatric prosobranch gastropods belonging to the family Hydrobiidae, Juturnia kosteri and Pyrgulopsis roswellensis. The diversity and composition of the microbiota were investigated based on high-throughput Illumina sequencing targeting the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. The observed bacterial diversity was distributed over 15 phyla, with the greatest number of 16S rRNA gene sequences derived from Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and Mollicutes. These results document the presence of highly diverse gut bacterial communities in the two hydrobiid species. Microbial communities present in the samples were associated by species and site in unweighted comparisons, though only by site in weighted comparisons. The high impact of site on microbial communities implies that although these species have different phylogenetic histories, they show similarities in their microbiomes when occupying overlapping habitats.