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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1476845
This article is part of the Research Topic Adaptation of Animals to High-Altitude Environments: The Role of the Gut Microbiota View all 9 articles

Altitude shapes gut microbiome composition accounting for diet, thyroid hormone levels, and host genetics in a subterranean blind mole rat

Provisionally accepted
Halil M. SOLAK Halil M. SOLAK 1,2*Jakub Kreisinger Jakub Kreisinger 1Dagmar Cizkova Dagmar Cizkova 3Efe Sezgin Efe Sezgin 4Lucie Schmiedová Lucie Schmiedová 1,3Marine Murtskhvaladze Marine Murtskhvaladze 5Yoshiyuki Henning Yoshiyuki Henning 6Faruk Çolak Faruk Çolak 2Ferhat Matur Ferhat Matur 7Alexey (. Yanchukov Alexey (. Yanchukov 2
  • 1 Charles University, Prague, Czechia
  • 2 Bülent Ecevit University, Zonguldak, Zonguldak, Türkiye
  • 3 Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR), Brno, South Moravia, Czechia
  • 4 Izmir Institute of Technology, Urla, İzmir, Türkiye
  • 5 Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
  • 6 University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
  • 7 Dokuz Eylül University, Alsancak, İzmir, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The animal gut microbiome acts as a crucial link between the host and its environment, playing a vital role in digestion, metabolism, physiology, and fitness. Using 16S rRNA metabarcoding, we investigated the effect of altitude on the microbiome composition of Anatolian Blind Mole Rats (Nannospalax xanthodon) across six locations and three altitudinal groups. We also factored in the host diet, as well as host microsatellite genotypes and thyroid hormone levels.The altitude had a major effect on microbiome composition, with notable differences in the relative abundance of several bacterial taxa across elevations. Contrary to prior research, we found no significant difference in strictly anaerobic bacteria abundance among altitudinal groups, though facultatively anaerobic bacteria were more prevalent at higher altitudes.Microbiome alpha diversity peaked at mid-altitude, comprising elements from both low and high elevations. The beta diversity showed significant association with the altitude. Altitude had a significant effect on the diet composition but not on its alpha diversity. No distinct altitude-related genetic structure was evident among the host populations, and no correlation was revealed between the host genetic relatedness and microbiome composition nor between the host microbiome and the diet. Free thyroxine (FT4) levels increased almost linearly with the altitude but none of the bacterial ASVs were found to be specifically associated with hormone levels. Total thyroxine (TT4) levels correlated positively with microbiome diversity.Although we detected correlation between certain components of the thyroid hormone levels and the microbiome beta diversity, the pattern of their relationship remains inconclusive.

    Keywords: gut microbiome, Diet, thyroid, Altitude adaptation, high altitude, Blind mole rats, 16S, 18S

    Received: 12 Aug 2024; Accepted: 17 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 SOLAK, Kreisinger, Cizkova, Sezgin, Schmiedová, Murtskhvaladze, Henning, Çolak, Matur and Yanchukov. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Halil M. SOLAK, Charles University, Prague, Czechia

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