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Updated: Oct 31, 2025
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Tissue Collection of Bats for -Omics Analyses and Primary Cell Culture
Published on: October 23, 2019
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Associations between Afrotropical bats, eukaryotic parasites, and microbial symbionts
Holly L Lutz1,2,3, Jack A Gilbert1,2, Carl W Dick3,4
1Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Molecular Ecology
|June 28, 2021
Summary
The skin microbiome composition in Afrotropical bats correlates with ectoparasite and malarial parasite prevalence. This suggests that host-associated bacteria can indirectly influence parasitism in wild animals.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Parasitology
- Ecology
Background:
- Mammalian skin harbors diverse ectoparasites, with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) attracting blood-feeding insects.
- Host-associated bacteria are hypothesized to mediate or directly influence parasitism, but this link is understudied in wild vertebrates.
- The relationship between host microbiome and eukaryotic parasitism is rarely tested in wild systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the link between the vertebrate host microbiome and parasitism in Afrotropical bats.
- To test the hypothesis that bacterial symbionts mediate parasitism in a wild vertebrate system.
- To examine the role of skin and oral microbiomes in ectoparasite and malarial parasite prevalence.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Afrotropical bats, bat flies (hematophagous ectoparasites), and haemosporidian (malarial) parasites as a model system.
- Analyzed bacterial community composition of bat skin and oral microbiomes.
- Correlated microbial data with ectoparasite prevalence and malarial parasite presence across bat lineages.
Main Results:
- Found significant correlations between skin bacterial community composition and dipteran ectoparasite prevalence in bats.
- Observed distinct skin microbial network characteristics in ectoparasitized versus non-ectoparasitized bats.
- Identified associations between oral microbiome composition and malarial parasite presence in miniopterid bats.
Conclusions:
- Microbial symbionts, particularly bacteria, likely serve as indirect mediators of parasitism in wild eukaryotic hosts.
- Host microbiome composition is a significant factor influencing susceptibility to ectoparasites and vector-borne diseases like malaria in bats.
- This study provides evidence for the microbiome-parasite interaction hypothesis in a natural wildlife setting.
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