Comparative analysis of gut microbiome of mangrove brachyuran crabs revealed patterns of phylosymbiosis and codiversification
Abstract
The acquisition of microbial symbionts enables animals to rapidly adapt to and exploit novel ecological niches, thus significantly enhancing the evolutionary fitness and success of their hosts. However, the dynamics of host–microbe interactions and their evolutionary implications remain largely underexplored in marine invertebrates. Crabs of the family Sesarmidae (Crustacea: Brachyura) are dominant inhabitants of mangrove forests and are considered keystone species there. Their rapid diversification, particularly after adopting a plant‐feeding lifestyle, is believed to have been facilitated by symbiotic gut microbes, enabling successful colonization of intertidal and terrestrial environments. To investigate the patterns and mechanisms shaping the microbial communities and the role of microbes in the evolution of Sesarmidae, we characterized and compared the gut microbiome compositions across 43 crab species from Sesarmidae and other mangrove‐associated families using 16S metabarcoding. We found that the gut microbiome assemblages in crabs are primarily determined by host identity, with a secondary influence from environmental factors such as microhabitat and sampling location, and to a lesser extent influenced by biological factors such as sex and gut region. While patterns of phylosymbiosis (i.e. when microbial community relationships recapitulate the phylogeny of their hosts) were consistently observed in all beta‐diversity metrics analysed, the strength of phylosymbiosis…
Read the paper
Related studies
- Bile Acid 7α-Dehydroxylating Gut Bacteria Secrete Antibiotics that Inhibit Clostridium difficile: Role of Secondary Bile Acids
- Ketogenic diet alleviates colitis by reduction of colonic group 3 innate lymphoid cells through altering gut microbiome
- Altered gut microbiome composition and function are associated with gut barrier dysfunction in healthy relatives of patients with Crohn's disease
- Diet, obesity, and the gut microbiome as determinants modulating metabolic outcomes in a non-human primate model
- Immune Impairment Associated with Vitamin A Deficiency: Insights from Clinical Studies and Animal Model Research
- Glyphosate-based herbicides influence antioxidants, reproductive hormones and gut microbiome but not reproduction: A long-term experiment in an avian model
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.