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Variance in the Gut microbiota of Wild Rodent along the Spatial Distance and Species Identity Scale
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  • Yongzhen Wu,
  • Taoxiu Zhou,
  • chen gu,
  • Baofa Yin,
  • shengmei yang,
  • yunzneg zhang,
  • Ruiyong Wu,
  • Wanhong Wei
Yongzhen Wu
Yangzhou University
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Taoxiu Zhou
Yangzhou University
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chen gu
Colleges of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University
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Baofa Yin
Colleges of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University
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shengmei yang
Colleges of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University
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yunzneg zhang
Colleges of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University
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Ruiyong Wu
Yangzhou University
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Wanhong Wei
Colleges of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

1. The gut microbiota of rodents is essential for survival and adaptation, and has been shown to be susceptible to a variety of factors, ranging from environmental conditions to genetic predispositions. Nevertheless, few comparative studies have considered the contribution of species identity and geographic spatial distance to the variation in gut microbiota. 2. Here, we investigated the gut microbial communities of four wild rodent species (Rattus norvegicus, Apodemus agrarius, Cricetulus barabensis, and Tscherskia triton) at five sites in northern China’s farming-pastoral transition zone. By performing a cross-factorial comparison, we are able to test whether belonging to the same species, or instead, being in the same capture site dominates in determining gut microbiota composition. 3. Our analysis found that the Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) showed a partial overlap with the species identity and the geographic capture sites, which did not reveal a ‘phylosymbiosis’ pattern. 4. The gut microbiota of these four rodent species adhered to typical mammalian characteristics, predominantly characterised by the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla. As the geographic distance between populations increased, the shared microbial taxa among conspecific populations decreased. We observed that within a relatively small geographical range, even different species exhibit convergent α-diversity due to their inhabitation within the same environmental microbial pool. In contrast, the composition and structure of the intestinal microbiota in allopatric populations of A. agrarius showed marked differences, as well as C. barabensis. Additionally, geographical environmental elements, exhibited significant correlations with diversity indices. Conversely, host-related factors had minimal influence on microbial abundance. 5. These findings illuminated that the similarity of the microbial compositions was not determined primarily by the host species, the location of the sampling explained a greater amount of variation in the microbial composition, indicating that the local environment played a crucial role in shaping the microbial composition.
21 Oct 2023Submitted to Ecology and Evolution
24 Oct 2023Submission Checks Completed
24 Oct 2023Assigned to Editor
04 Nov 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
03 Feb 20241st Revision Received
05 Feb 2024Submission Checks Completed
05 Feb 2024Assigned to Editor
05 Feb 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending