Affiliation:
1. Department of Biology, Texas State University, 601 University Dr., San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
2. Archbold Biological Station, 123 Main Dr., Venus, FL 33960, USA
3. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
Abstract
The gut microbiome is important for digestion, host fitness, and defense against pathogens, which provides a tool for host health assessment. Amphibians and their microbiomes are highly susceptible to pollutants including antibiotics. We explored the role of an unmanipulated gut microbiome on tadpole fitness and phenotype by comparing tadpoles of Rana berlandieri in a control group (1) with tadpoles exposed to: (2) Roundup® (glyphosate active ingredient), (3) antibiotic cocktail (enrofloxacin, sulfamethazine, trimethoprim, streptomycin, and penicillin), and (4) a combination of Roundup and antibiotics. Tadpoles in the antibiotic and combination treatments had the smallest dorsal body area and were the least active compared to control and Roundup-exposed tadpoles, which were less active than control tadpoles. The gut microbial community significantly changed across treatments at the alpha, beta, and core bacterial levels. However, we did not find significant differences between the antibiotic- and combination-exposed tadpoles, suggesting that antibiotic alone was enough to suppress growth, change behavior, and alter the gut microbiome composition. Here, we demonstrate that the gut microbial communities of tadpoles are sensitive to environmental pollutants, namely Roundup and antibiotics, which may have consequences for host phenotype and fitness via altered behavior and growth.
Funder
Verena and Kenneth J. Wilson Latin American Research Program fund
Dorothy Coker Research Fellowship
Lamar and Marilynn Johanson Graduate Endowment in Biology
Graduate Thesis
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Reference92 articles.
1. Douglas, A.E. (2015). Fundamentals of Microbiome Science: How Microbes Shape Animal Biology, Princeton University Press.
2. Co-habiting amphibian species harbor unique skin bacterial communities in wild populations;McKenzie;ISME J.,2012
3. Panamanian frog species host unique skin bacterial communities;Belden;Front. Microbiol.,2015
4. Assis, A.B.d., Barreto, C.C., and Navas, C.A. (2017). Skin microbiota in frogs from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: Species, forest type, and potential against pathogens. PLoS ONE, 12.
5. The causes of intestinal dysbiosis: A review;Hawrelak;Altern. Med. Rev.,2004