Phylogenetic signal in gut microbial community rather than in rodent metabolic traits

Abstract

Host phylogeny and environment have all been implicated in shaping the gut microbiota and host metabolic traits of mammals. However, few studies have evaluated phylogeny-associated microbial assembly and host metabolic plasticity concurrently, and their relationships on both short-term and evolutionary timescales. We report that the branching order of a gut microbial dendrogram was nearly congruent with phylogenetic relationships of seven rodent species, and this pattern of phylosymbiosis was intact after diverse laboratory manipulations. Laboratory rearing, diet or air temperature ( T a ) acclimation induced alterations in gut microbial communities, but could not override host phylogeny in shaping microbial community assembly. A simulative heatwave reduced core microbiota diversity by 26% in these species, and led to an unmatched relationship between the microbiota and host metabolic phenotypes in desert species. Moreover, the similarity of metabolic traits across species at different Tas was not correlated with phylogenetic distance. These data demonstrated that the gut microbial assembly showed strong concordance with host phylogeny and may be shaped by environmental variables, whereas host metabolic traits did not seem to be linked with phylogeny.