Experimental evaluation of the importance of colonization history in early-life gut microbiota assembly
Inés Martínez,
Maria X Maldonado-Gomez,
João Carlos Gomes-Neto,
Hatem Kittana,
Hua Ding,
Robert Schmaltz,
Payal Joglekar,
Roberto Jiménez Cardona,
Nathan L Marsteller,
Steven W Kembel,
Andrew K Benson,
Daniel A Peterson,
Amanda E Ramer-Tait,
Jens Walter
Affiliations
Inés Martínez
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, United States; Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Maria X Maldonado-Gomez
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, United States
João Carlos Gomes-Neto
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, United States
Hatem Kittana
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, United States
Hua Ding
Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
Robert Schmaltz
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, United States
Payal Joglekar
Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
Roberto Jiménez Cardona
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, United States
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, United States
Steven W Kembel
Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada
Andrew K Benson
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, United States
Daniel A Peterson
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, United States; Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States; Eli Lilly & Co, Indianapolis, United States
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, United States; Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
The factors that govern assembly of the gut microbiota are insufficiently understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that inter-individual microbiota variation can arise solely from differences in the order and timing by which the gut is colonized early in life. Experiments in which mice were inoculated in sequence either with two complex seed communities or a cocktail of four bacterial strains and a seed community revealed that colonization order influenced both the outcome of community assembly and the ecological success of individual colonizers. Historical contingency and priority effects also occurred in Rag1-/- mice, suggesting that the adaptive immune system is not a major contributor to these processes. In conclusion, this study established a measurable effect of colonization history on gut microbiota assembly in a model in which host and environmental factors were strictly controlled, illuminating a potential cause for the high levels of unexplained individuality in host-associated microbial communities.
