What can we learn from microbial symbionts about their animal hosts?
Dr Öncü MARACI
Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University
Date: Wednesday, 12.06.2019, 13:00, Cent Lecture Theatre 0142 How to get there: Lecture theatre 0142 is c. ~15 meters to the right after entering CeNT
Animal bodies harbour complex and dynamic microbial ecosystems consisting of bacteria, fungi, archaea, protozoa and viruses. An increasing number of studies documented the functions of microbial symbionts in physiology, metabolism, behaviour, fitness and evolution of their animal hosts. These new findings have fundamentally altered our understanding of animal biology. One of the most striking discoveries is that, microorganisms can modulate the hosts’ communicative behaviour and social interactions in many animal taxa. Although the exact mechanism of this interplay has not been fully discovered, one possible mechanism is that olfactory signals produced by microorganism as metabolic by-products might influence hosts’ behaviour. The composition of the symbiotic microbiota is influenced by several host-specific factors, resulting in substantial inter-individual variations. In turn, the variations in microbial communities would consequently affect social and communicative behaviour by influencing recognition cues of the hosts. Hence, it is crucial to elucidate the factors affecting microbial community structure in terms of understanding the potential function of microbial symbionts in olfactory communication. Furthermore, an increasing number of studies showed anthropogenic stress can alter the composition and functioning of microbial communities. More recently, it has been also proposed that microorganism can influence the adaptive capacity of their host, making them more resilient to potentially stressful anthropogenic perturbations. Therefore, understanding the structural changes in microbial symbionts in response to urbanisation related stressors might open new windows to further investigate the function of microbial communities in facilitating the adaptation of their animal hosts to anthropogenic stress. In this talk, I will present some preliminary data on the factors influencing the gut microbe composition in two estridild finch species and some ideas about future perspectives.
Illustrative Drawing: Andrew Rae for Quanta Magazine