RESUMEN
Gut microorganisms are crucial for many biological functions playing a pivotal role in the host's well-being. We studied gut bacterial community structure of marine iguana populations across the Galápagos archipelago. Marine iguanas depend heavily on their specialized gut microbiome for the digestion of dietary algae, a resource whose growth was strongly reduced by severe "El Niño"-related climatic fluctuations in 2015/2016. As a consequence, marine iguana populations showed signs of starvation as expressed by a poor body condition. Body condition indices (BCI) varied between island populations indicating that food resources (i.e., algae) are affected differently across the archipelago during 'El Niño' events. Though this event impacted food availability for marine iguanas, we found that reductions in body condition due to "El Niño"-related starvation did not result in differences in bacterial gut community structure. Species richness of gut microorganisms was instead correlated with levels of neutral genetic diversity in the distinct host populations. Our data suggest that marine iguana populations with a higher level of gene diversity and allelic richness may harbor a more diverse gut microbiome than those populations with lower genetic diversity. Since low values of these diversity parameters usually correlate with small census and effective population sizes, we use our results to propose a novel hypothesis according to which small and genetically less diverse host populations might be characterized by less diverse microbiomes. Whether such genetically depauperate populations may experience additional threats from reduced dietary flexibility due to a limited intestinal microbiome is currently unclear and calls for further investigation.
Asunto(s)
El Niño Oscilación del Sur , Microbioma Gastrointestinal/fisiología , Iguanas/microbiología , Animales , Biodiversidad , EcuadorRESUMEN
Communication between individuals via molecules, termed chemosignaling, is widespread among animal and plant species. However, we lack knowledge on the specific functions of the substances involved for most systems. The femoral gland is an organ that secretes a waxy substance involved in chemical communication in lizards. Although the lipids and volatile substances secreted by the femoral glands have been investigated in several biochemical studies, the protein composition and functions of secretions remain completely unknown. Applying a proteomic approach, we provide the first attempt to comprehensively characterize the protein composition of femoral gland secretions from the Galápagos marine iguana. Using samples from several organs, the marine iguana proteome was assembled by next-generation sequencing and MS, resulting in 7513 proteins. Of these, 4305 proteins were present in the femoral gland, including keratins, small serum proteins, and fatty acid-binding proteins. Surprisingly, no proteins with discernible roles in partner recognition or inter-species communication could be identified. However, we did find several proteins with direct associations to the innate immune system, including lysozyme C, antileukoproteinase (ALP), pulmonary surfactant protein (SFTPD), and galectin (LGALS1) suggesting that the femoral glands function as an important barrier to infection. Furthermore, we report several novel anti-microbial peptides from the femoral glands that show similar action against Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis such as oncocin, a peptide known for its effectiveness against Gram-negative pathogens. This proteomics data set is a valuable resource for future functional protein analysis and demonstrates that femoral gland secretions also perform functions of the innate immune system.
Asunto(s)
Antiinfecciosos/metabolismo , Antiinfecciosos/farmacología , Iguanas/metabolismo , Sistema Inmunológico/metabolismo , Inmunidad Innata , Proteoma/metabolismo , Transcriptoma , Animales , Apoproteínas/genética , Apoproteínas/metabolismo , Bacillus subtilis/efectos de los fármacos , Encéfalo/metabolismo , Factores Quimiotácticos/genética , Factores Quimiotácticos/metabolismo , Ecuador , Endopeptidasas/genética , Endopeptidasas/metabolismo , Escherichia coli/efectos de los fármacos , Galectinas/genética , Galectinas/metabolismo , Corazón/fisiología , Secuenciación de Nucleótidos de Alto Rendimiento , Humanos , Iguanas/genética , Iguanas/inmunología , Inmunidad Innata/genética , Pulmón/metabolismo , Muramidasa/genética , Muramidasa/metabolismo , Músculos/metabolismo , Miocardio/metabolismo , Especificidad de Órganos , Proteoma/genética , Proteoma/inmunología , Proteómica , Proteínas Asociadas a Surfactante Pulmonar/genética , Proteínas Asociadas a Surfactante Pulmonar/metabolismo , Piel/metabolismo , Espectrometría de Masas en Tándem , Transcriptoma/genéticaRESUMEN
The effects of the direct interaction between hybridization and speciation-two major contrasting evolutionary processes--are poorly understood. We present here the evolutionary history of the Galápagos marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) and reveal a case of incipient within--island speciation, which is paralleled by between-island hybridization. In-depth genome-wide analyses suggest that Amblyrhynchus diverged from its sister group, the Galápagos land iguanas, around 4.5 million years ago (Ma), but divergence among extant populations is exceedingly young (less than 50,000 years). Despite Amblyrhynchus appearing as a single long-branch species phylogenetically, we find strong population structure between islands, and one case of incipient speciation of sister lineages within the same island--ostensibly initiated by volcanic events. Hybridization between both lineages is exceedingly rare, yet frequent hybridization with migrants from nearby islands is evident. The contemporary snapshot provided by highly variable markers indicates that speciation events may have occurred throughout the evolutionary history of marine iguanas, though these events are not visible in the deeper phylogenetic trees. We hypothesize that the observed interplay of speciation and hybridization might be a mechanism by which local adaptations, generated by incipient speciation, can be absorbed into a common gene pool, thereby enhancing the evolutionary potential of the species as a whole.
Asunto(s)
Especiación Genética , Hibridación Genética , Iguanas/genética , Animales , Ecuador , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Filogenia , Análisis de Secuencia de ADNRESUMEN
We studied patterns of genetic diversity within and among 5 populations (318 individuals) of Galápagos marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) from the island Santa Fé. Populations were separated by distances of 0.2 to 9.9 km. We sequenced 1182 base pairs of the mitochondrial control region and screened 13 microsatellite loci for variability. We also added data from 5 populations (397 individuals) sampled on 4 neighboring islands (Santa Cruz, Floreana, Espanola, and San Cristobal). The 5 Santa Fé populations, revealed as genetically distinct from populations on other islands, present relatively low levels of genetic diversity, which are similar for both microsatellite (average observed heterozygosity from 0.7686 to 0.7773) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers (haplotypic and nucleotide diversity from 0.587 to 0.728 and from 0.00079 to 0.00293, respectively), and comparable with those observed in similar-sized sampling sites on other islands. There was frequency-based evidence of genetic structure between northern and southern sites on Santa Fé (F(st) of 0.0027-0.0115 for microsatellite and 0.0447-0.2391 for mtDNA), but the 4 southern sites showed little differentiation. Most of the intra-island genetic variation was allocated within rather than between sites. There was no evidence of sex-biased dispersal or population substructuring due to lek-mating behavior, suggesting that these 2 observed behaviors are not strong enough to leave an evolutionary signal on genetic patterns in this species.
Asunto(s)
ADN Mitocondrial/genética , Flujo Genético , Variación Genética , Iguanas/genética , Animales , Organismos Acuáticos/genética , Secuencia de Bases , Cruzamiento , Ecuador , Evolución Molecular , Femenino , Flujo Génico , Haplotipos , Masculino , Repeticiones de Microsatélite/genética , Mitocondrias , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Reacción en Cadena de la PolimerasaRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) inhabit the coastlines of large and small islands throughout the Galápagos archipelago, providing a rich system to study the spatial and temporal factors influencing the phylogeographic distribution and population structure of a species. Here, we analyze the microevolution of marine iguanas using the complete mitochondrial control region (CR) as well as 13 microsatellite loci representing more than 1200 individuals from 13 islands. RESULTS: CR data show that marine iguanas occupy three general clades: one that is widely distributed across the northern archipelago, and likely spread from east to west by way of the South Equatorial current, a second that is found mostly on the older eastern and central islands, and a third that is limited to the younger northern and western islands. Generally, the CR haplotype distribution pattern supports the colonization of the archipelago from the older, eastern islands to the younger, western islands. However, there are also signatures of recurrent, historical gene flow between islands after population establishment. Bayesian cluster analysis of microsatellite genotypes indicates the existence of twenty distinct genetic clusters generally following a one-cluster-per-island pattern. However, two well-differentiated clusters were found on the easternmost island of San Cristóbal, while nine distinct and highly intermixed clusters were found on youngest, westernmost islands of Isabela and Fernandina. High mtDNA and microsatellite genetic diversity were observed for populations on Isabela and Fernandina that may be the result of a recent population expansion and founder events from multiple sources. CONCLUSIONS: While a past genetic study based on pure FST analysis suggested that marine iguana populations display high levels of nuclear (but not mitochondrial) gene flow due to male-biased dispersal, the results of our sex-biased dispersal tests and the finding of strong genetic differentiation between islands do not support this view. Therefore, our study is a nice example of how recently developed analytical tools such as Bayesian clustering analysis and DNA sequence-based demographic analyses can overcome potential biases introduced by simply relying on FST estimates from markers with different inheritance patterns.