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Abstract:
Understanding the origins of gut microbial community structure is
critical for the identification and interpretation of potential fitnessrelated
traits for the host. The presence of community clusters
characterized by differences in the abundance of signature taxa,
referred to as enterotypes, is a debated concept first reported in
humans and later extended to other mammalian hosts. In this
study, we provide a thorough assessment of their existence in wild
house mice using a panel of evaluation criteria.We identify support
for two clusters that are compositionally similar to clusters identified
in humans, chimpanzees, and laboratory mice, characterized by
differences in Bacteroides, Robinsoniella, and unclassified genera
belonging to the family Lachnospiraceae. To further evaluate these
clusters, we (i) monitored community changes associated with moving
mice from the natural to a laboratory environment, (ii) performed
functional metagenomic sequencing, and (iii) subjected
wild-caught samples to stable isotope analysis to reconstruct
dietary patterns. This process reveals differences in the proportions
of genes involved in carbohydrate versus protein metabolism in
the functional metagenome, as well as differences in plant- versus
meat-derived food sources between clusters. In conjunction with
wild-caught mice quickly changing their enterotype classification
upon transfer to a standard laboratory chow diet, these results
provide strong evidence that dietary history contributes to the
presence of enterotype-like clustering in wild mice.
