Selective enrichment of founding reproductive microbiomes allows extensive vertical transmission in a fungus-farming termite.
Veronica M Sinotte, Justinn Renelies-Hamilton, Sergio Andreu-Sánchez, Mireille Vasseur-Cognet, Michael Poulsen
Author Information
Veronica M Sinotte: Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen East, Denmark. ORCID
Justinn Renelies-Hamilton: Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen East, Denmark.
Sergio Andreu-Sánchez: Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen East, Denmark. ORCID
Mireille Vasseur-Cognet: UMR IRD 242, UPEC, CNRS 7618, UPMC 113, INRAe 1392, Paris 7 113, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris, Bondy, France. ORCID
Michael Poulsen: Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen East, Denmark. ORCID
Mutualistic coevolution can be mediated by vertical transmission of symbionts between host generations. Termites host complex gut bacterial communities with evolutionary histories indicative of mixed-mode transmission. Here, we document that vertical transmission of gut bacterial strains is congruent across parent to offspring colonies in four pedigrees of the fungus-farming termite . We show that 44% of the offspring colony microbiome, including more than 80 bacterial genera and pedigree-specific strains, are consistently inherited. We go on to demonstrate that this is achieved because colony-founding reproductives are selectively enriched with a set of non-random, environmentally sensitive and termite-specific gut microbes from their colonies of origin. These symbionts transfer to offspring colony workers with high fidelity, after which priority effects appear to influence the composition of the establishing microbiome. Termite reproductives thus secure transmission of complex communities of specific, co-evolved microbes that are critical to their offspring colonies. Extensive yet imperfect inheritance implies that the maturing colony benefits from acquiring environmental microbes to complement combinations of termite, fungus and vertically transmitted microbes; a mode of transmission that is emerging as a prevailing strategy for hosts to assemble complex adaptive microbiomes.
