RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Eco-evolutionary trajectories of host-microbiome interactions

In this study I investigated the complex interactions between host and their microbiome, focusing on Chinook salmon as an animal model. We used antibiotic and probiotic treatments to manipulate the gut microbiome and measured the effects on the gut microbial community and host gene expression using metatranscriptomics analysis.

This study helps to better understand coevolutionary processes that shape the symbiotic relationship between hosts and their microbiome. The ability to modulate the gut microbiome opens new avenues for improving host health and overall fitness while reducing disease resistance.

In this study, I characterized fish-associated bacterial communities and quantified the similarity between water bacterial communities and those of the fishes. Moreover, I was able to determine the extent to which microbiota among fish follow a pattern of phylosymbiosis. This study showed that environmental (sample location), habitat, fish diet and host species factors shape and promote divergence or convergence of the fish microbiota. Our study will provide insight into factors governing the microbial community associated with fish and their co-evolutionary dynamics with teleosts in general. Moreover, such information may provide fish managers with tools to assess fish stock status and health. Specifically, skin swab samples could be used as a non-invasive sampling method to assess the health status of the fish, a valuable option for rare and at-risk fish species.

Ecological theory suggests that community development is often influenced by priority effects, in which the order and timing of species arrival determine how species affect one another. Indeed, priority effects can have substantial consequences, particularly if species arrival history changes during the early stage of community development. However, their importance to the tomato phyllosphere microbiome and plant health remains largely unknown. For example, the degree to which early-arriving species in phyllosphere can resist invasion by pathogens is not known.

Coming soon