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Updated: Jan 21, 2026
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A Method to Assess Bacteriocin Effects on the Gut Microbiota of Mice
Published on: July 25, 2017
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Characterizing symbiont inheritance during host-microbiota evolution: Application to the great apes gut microbiota
Benoît Perez-Lamarque1,2, Hélène Morlon1
1Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), Département de biologie, École normale supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL University, Paris, France.
Molecular Ecology Resources
|July 21, 2019
Summary
We developed a new model to track how microbes are passed down through generations. This method helps identify vertically transmitted microbes, like gut bacteria, by analyzing host evolutionary history.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Bioinformatics
Background:
- Microbiota are crucial for host functioning, but their inheritance patterns (environmental acquisition, strict vertical transmission, or vertical with horizontal switches) are complex.
- Understanding microbial inheritance is key to explaining microbial diversification and its relationship with host evolution.
- Existing cophylogenetic tools struggle with DNA metabarcoding data, necessitating new approaches.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a model-based framework for identifying vertically transmitted microbial taxa.
- To estimate host switches and test for strict vertical transmission and independent evolution.
- To apply the framework to high-throughput sequencing data for identifying specific vertically transmitted microbes.
Main Methods:
- Developed a model for microbial sequence evolution on a fixed host phylogeny incorporating vertical transmission and horizontal host switches.
- Utilized simulations to test the accuracy and robustness of the developed approach.
- Applied the framework to gut microbiota high-throughput sequencing data from the family Hominidae.
Main Results:
- The model successfully identifies vertically transmitted microbial taxa.
- The framework can estimate the number of host switches and differentiate between strict vertical transmission and independent evolution.
- Several microbial taxonomic units, including fibrolytic bacteria, were identified as tending towards vertical transmission in Hominidae gut microbiota.
Conclusions:
- The new model-based framework effectively identifies vertically transmitted microbes from DNA metabarcoding data.
- This approach advances our understanding of microbial inheritance and its impact on microbial and host evolution.
- The findings highlight the vertical transmission of specific gut bacteria, such as fibrolytic bacteria, in the Hominidae family.
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