Marmot gut microbiomes are stable against dietary variation

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Microbiology
• Genomics

Background:

• Host diet is a primary driver of animal gut microbiome composition, especially in herbivores.
• Understanding population-level variation in wild animals remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between gut microbiome and diet composition across individual wild yellow-bellied marmots.
• To determine factors influencing dietary variation within a wild population.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a multi-omic approach combining 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and plant DNA metabarcoding (tRNL primer).
• Analyzed 39 fecal samples from wild yellow-bellied marmots in the Rocky Mountains.
• Applied bioinformatics to correlate microbial and plant DNA data.

Main Results:

• Marmot gut microbiomes demonstrated stability despite significant individual dietary variation.
• Colony membership was a significant factor in marmot dietary variation.
• Host age did not significantly impact dietary variation.

Conclusions:

• Gut microbiome composition in wild yellow-bellied marmots is resilient to dietary fluctuations within the species.
• Social structure (colony membership) plays a larger role in diet selection than previously thought.
• Diet composition has a minimal impact on gut microbiome variation in this wild population.