Interactions between multiple helminths and the gut microbiota in wild rodents
File(s)
Author(s)
Kreisinger, J
Bastien, G
Hauffe, HC
Marchesi, J
Perkins, SE
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The gut microbiota is vital to host health and, as such, it is important to elucidate the mechanisms altering its composition and diversity. Intestinal helminths are host immunomodulators and have evolved both temporally and spatially in close association with the gut microbiota, resulting in potential mechanistic interplay. Host-helminth and host-microbiota interactions are comparatively well-examined, unlike microbiota-helminth relationships, which typically focus on experimental infection with a single helminth species in laboratory animals. Here, in addition to a review of the literature on helminth-microbiota interactions, we examined empirically the association between microbiota diversity and composition and natural infection of multiple helminth species in wild mice (Apodemus flavicollis), using 16S rRNA gene catalogues (metataxonomics). In general, helminth presence is linked with high microbiota diversity, which may confer health benefits to the host. Within our wild rodent system variation in the composition and abundance of gut microbial taxa associated with helminths was specific to each helminth species and occurred both up- and downstream of a given helminth's niche (gut position). The most pronounced helminth-microbiota association was between the presence of tapeworms in the small intestine and increased S24-7 (Bacteroidetes) family in the stomach. Helminths clearly have the potential to alter gut homeostasis. Free-living rodents with a diverse helminth community offer a useful model system that enables both correlative (this study) and manipulative inference to elucidate helminth-microbiota interactions.
Date Issued
2015-07-06
Date Acceptance
2015-05-26
Citation
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2015, 370 (1675)
ISSN
1471-2970
Publisher
The Royal Society
Journal / Book Title
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume
370
Issue
1675
Copyright Statement
© 2015 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
License URL
Subjects
Apodemus flavicollis
community interactions
infracommunity
metagenome
wildlife microbiota
Animals
Female
Gastrointestinal Microbiome
Genetic Variation
Helminths
Host-Parasite Interactions
Host-Pathogen Interactions
Male
Murinae
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Evolutionary Biology
06 Biological Sciences
11 Medical And Health Sciences
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
20140295