Gut microbiota and kin recognition

Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 2018

Animals harbor an extensive, dynamic microbial ecosystem in their gut. Gut microbiota (GM) supposedly modulate various host functions including fecundity, metabolism, immunity, cognition and behavior. Starting by analyzing the concept of the holobiont as a unit of selection, we highlight recent findings suggesting an intimate link between GM and animal social behavior. We consider two reciprocal emerging themes: (i) that GM influence host social behavior; and (ii) that social behavior and social structure shape the composition of the GM across individuals. We propose that, throughout a long history of coevolution, GM may have become involved in the modulation of their host's sociality to foster their own transmission, while in turn social organization may have fine-tuned the transmission of beneficial endosymbionts and prevented pathogen infection. We suggest that investigating these reciprocal interactions can advance our understanding of sociality, from healthy and impaired social cognition to the evolution of specific social behaviors and societal structure.

Frontiers in Microbiology, 2023

The ISME Journal, 2014

Delineating differences in gut microbiomes of human and animal hosts contributes towards understanding human health and enables new strategies for detecting reservoirs of waterborne human pathogens. We focused upon Blautia, a single microbial genus that is important for nutrient assimilation as preliminary work suggested host-related patterns within members of this genus. In our dataset of 57 M sequence reads of the V6 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene in samples collected from seven host species, we identified 200 high-resolution taxonomic units within Blautia using oligotyping. Our analysis revealed 13 host-specific oligotypes that occurred exclusively in fecal samples of humans (three oligotypes), swine (six oligotypes), cows (one oligotype), deer (one oligotype), or chickens (two oligotypes). We identified an additional 171 oligotypes that exhibited differential abundance patterns among all the host species. Blautia oligotypes in the human population obtained from sewage and fecal samples displayed remarkable continuity. Oligotypes from only 10 Brazilian human fecal samples collected from individuals in a rural village encompassed 97% of all Blautia oligotypes found in a Brazilian sewage sample from a city of three million people. Further, 75% of the oligotypes in Brazilian human fecal samples matched those in US sewage samples, implying that a universal set of Blautia strains may be shared among culturally and geographically distinct human populations. Such strains can serve as universal markers to assess human fecal contamination in environmental samples. Our results indicate that host-specificity and host-preference patterns of organisms within this genus are driven by host physiology more than dietary habits.

Specific interactions between parasite genotypes and host genotypes (Gp x Gh) are commonly found in invertebrate systems, but are largely lacking a mechanistic explanation. The genotype of invertebrate hosts can be complemented by the genomes of microorganisms living on or within the host (“microbiota”). We investigated whether the bacterial gut microbiota of bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) can account for the specificity of interactions between individuals from different colonies (previously taken as host genotype proxy) and genotypes of the parasite Crithidia bombi. For this, we transplanted the microbiota between individuals of six colonies. Both the general infection load and the specific success of different C. bombi genotypes were mostly driven by the microbiota, rather than by worker genotype. Variation in gut microbiota can therefore be responsible for specific immune phenotypes and the evolution of gut parasites may be driven by interactions with “microbiota types” as well as with host genotypes.

The Journal of Experimental Biology

Communities of symbiotic microorganisms that colonize the gastrointestinal tract play an important role in food digestion and protection against opportunistic microbes. Diet diversity increases the number of symbionts in the intestines, a benefit that is considered to impose no cost for the host organism. However, less is known about the possible immunological investments that hosts have to make in order to control the infections caused by symbiont populations that increase due to diet diversity. By using taxonomical composition analysis of the 16S rRNA V3 region, we show that Enterococci are the dominating group of bacteria in the midgut of the larvae of the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella). We found that the number of colony-forming units (CFU) of Enterococci and expressions of certain immunity-related antimicrobial peptide (AMP) genes such as Gallerimycin, Gloverin, 6-tox, Cecropin-D and Galiomicin increased in response to a more diverse diet, which in turn decreased the en...

Ecological Monorgaphs, 2019

The relationship between animals and their gut flora is simultaneously one of the most common and most complex symbioses on Earth. Despite its ubiquity, our understanding of this invisible but often critical relationship is still in its infancy. We employed adult Neotropical butterflies as a study system to ask three questions: First, how does gut microbial community composition vary across host individuals, species and dietary guilds? Second, how do gut microbiota compare to food microbial communities? Finally, are gut flora functionally adapted to the chemical makeup of host foods? To answer these questions we captured nearly 300 Costa Rican butterflies representing over 50 species, six families, and two feeding guilds: frugivores and nectivores. We characterized bacteria and fungi in guts, wild fruits, and wild nectars via amplicon sequencing and assessed the catabolic abilities of the gut microbiota via culture‐based assays. Gut communities were distinct from food communities, suggesting that the gut environment acts as a filter on potential colonists. Nevertheless, gut flora varied widely among individuals and species. On average, a pair of butterflies shared 21% of their bacterial species and 6% of their fungi. Host species explained 25–30% of variation in microbial communities while host diet explained 4%, suggesting that non‐dietary aspects of host biology play a large role in structuring the butterfly gut flora. Much of the variation between species correlated with host phylogeny. Host diet was related to gut microbial function: compared to frugivores, nectivores’ gut flora exhibited increased catabolism of sugars and sugar alcohols and decreased catabolism of amino acids, carboxylic acids, and dicarboxylic acids. Since fermented juice contains more amino acids and less sugar than nectar, it appears that host diet filters the gut flora by favoring microbes that digest compounds abundant in foods. By quantifying the degree to which gut communities vary among host individuals, species and dietary guilds and evaluating how gut microbial composition and catabolic potential are related to host diet, this study highlights the linkages between structure and function in one of the most complex and ubiquitous symbioses in the animal kingdom.

Microbiology Australia, 2015

2022

The gut microbiota influences animal neurophysiology and behavior but has not previously been documented to affect emergent group-level behaviors. Here we combine gut microbiota manipulation with automated behavioral tracking of honeybee sub-colonies to show that the microbiota increases the rate and specialization of social interactions. Microbiota colonization was associated with higher abundances of one third of metabolites detected in the brain, including several amino acids, and a subset of these metabolites were significant predictors of social interactions. Colonization also affected brain transcriptional processes related to amino acid metabolism and epigenetic modification in a brain region involved in sensory perception. These results demonstrate that the gut microbiota modulates the emergent colony social network of honeybees, likely via changes in chromatin accessibility and amino acid biosynthesis.

2017

This article examines the problem of man’s attitude towards death, it analyses antithesis: natural (the world of ill people) - artificial (figure of the physician) and describes the symbolism of a fly in the Mikhail Artsybashev’s story Untreatable patients ward. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that fly as an insect of “inferior world” - the world of decomposition and death - performs completely different role: the fly transforms into a symbol of life and vital force. It changes into a mediator between life and death. The fly anticipates a “rebirth” of the boy, the only character in the story who will recover

2024

It has been almost twenty years since Jacques Derrida died. Even though his philosophical project and writing style have not ceased to inspire authors, intellectuals, and academics all across political and methodological spectrums, it is pivotal to discuss the status of deconstruction in the third decade of the 21st century. Does deconstruction indeed appeal to us as a set of interpretative, philosophical, and political guidelines that do not lose their relevance in the light of recent challenges of the contemporary world? Is deconstructive promise still captivating? Or maybe, has it been confined solely to academic departments and turned into what in Specters of Marx Derrida calls “the neutralizing anesthesia of a new theoreticism”? Perhaps deconstruction is exclusively a part of the 20th century Western intellectual canon, where it serves as a distant, albeit fashionable, point of reference, excessively diluted in novel approaches. What if these approaches demand their share in Derrida’s legacy yet bend it to their own agendas, or even go against the “spirit” of deconstruction, whatever that may be? After-words/After-worlds. The Legacy of Jacques Derrida conference wholeheartedly invites scholars from various fields to discuss whether there is still a place and demand for a valuable and vigilant deconstructive practice. We are interested to see how poetics, ethics, and politics of deconstruction might help us attune it to the early 2020s. Perhaps the legacy of deconstruction requires us to accept the responsibility of re-politicising it so that it might help us face the “dominant intellectual normativity” of our times. We would like to make a modest attempt at thinking how to “produce events, new effective forms of action, practice, organization, and so forth,” as Derrida has it. We intend to investigate what can be done to keep the future open and to envision (im)possible worlds as alternatives to programmed barbarism and social homogeneities aggravated by multiple global crises. In an attempt to approach the legacy of deconstruction and Derrida’s work critically, we invite papers and lectures inspired by (but not limited to) the following ideas: - hyper-politics and democracy to come, - deconstruction and global capitalism, - politics and ethics of deconstruction, - deconstruction after/against the Linguistic Turn, - eco-deconstruction, - deconstruction and/of the Anthropocene, - deconstructive politics of sexual difference, - deconstruction and non-normative discourses, and - deconstructive readings of trauma and mourning. The conference will take place exclusively in-person. There is no conference fee. Papers can be presented in English or Polish. Please send an abstract of about 300 words and a short biographical note (including university affiliation, position, contact details) in one Word document to the conference organizers at: [email protected]. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 23 June 2024.