Patterns of host gene expression associated with harboring a foregut microbial community

BMC Genomics

Research Article

Kevin D. Kohl¹  Kelly F. Oakeson²  M. Denise Dearing²  Colin Dale²  Diane Dunn³  Robert B. Weiss³  David K. Meyerholz⁴ 

[1] Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 465 21st Ave South, 37235, Nashville, TN, USA;Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South 1400 East, 84112, Salt Lake City, UT, USA;Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah, 15 North 2030 East, 84112, Salt Lake City, USA;Department of Pathology, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Dr, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA;

关键词: Host-microbe interactions;    Herbivore;    Woodrat;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12864-017-4101-z

 received in 2017-07-24, accepted in 2017-08-31,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHarboring foregut microbial communities is considered a key innovation that allows herbivorous mammals to colonize new ecological niches. However, the functions of these chambers have only been well studied at the molecular level in ruminants. Here, we investigate gene expression in the foregut chamber of herbivorous rodents and ask whether these gene expression patterns are consistent with results in ruminants. We compared gene expression in foregut tissues of two rodent species: Stephen’s woodrat (Neotoma stephensi), which harbors a dense foregut microbial community, and the lab rat (Rattus norvegicus), which lacks such a community.ResultsWe found that woodrats have higher abundances of transcripts associated with smooth muscle processes, specifically a higher expression of the smoothelin-like 1 gene, which may assist in contractile properties of this tissue to retain food material in the foregut chamber. The expression of genes associated with keratinization and cornification exhibited a complex pattern of differences between the two species, suggesting distinct molecular mechanisms. Lab rats exhibited higher abundances of transcripts associated with immune function, likely to inhibit microbial growth in the foregut of this species.ConclusionsSome of our results were consistent with previous findings in ruminants (high expression of facilitative glucose transporters, lower expression of B4galnt2), suggestive of possible convergent evolution, while other results were unclear, and perhaps represent novel host-microbe interactions in rodents. Overall, our results suggest that harboring a foregut microbiota is associated with changes to the functions and host-microbe interactions of the foregut tissues.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017