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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbial Symbioses
Volume 15 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1476854
This article is part of the Research Topic Unveiling the Potential of Microbiome in Semi-Wild and Wildlife Animals: Exploring Opportunities for Disease Mitigation and Animal Health across Ecological Zones View all 3 articles
Positive Selection and Adaptation Role of Gut Microbiota in the Evolution of Adaptive Immunity of Mammalian Species
Provisionally accepted- Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Science (CAS), Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
Every mammalian species harbours a gut microbiota, and variation in the gut microbiota within mammalian species can profoundly affect host phenotypes. Understanding the consequences of gut microbiotas in mammalian evolution requires testable hypotheses regarding the specific modes by which they alter the adaptive landscapes experienced by hosts. Mechanisms underlying adaptation to various gut microbiota during the evolutionary process remain poorly understood. This study examines how the host's immune system influences the molecular evolution and adaptation of the gut microbiotagut microbiota adaptation in various mammalian species. We assessed the evidence for the gut microbiota's influence on mammalian evolution and diversification. The maximum likelihood approach was used to identify evidence of positive selection in immune genes. To identify codons that underwent adaptive evolution, we Formatted: Superscript Formatted: Highlight looked for episodic and pervasive positive selection throughout all branches of the mammalian evolutionary tree. Our findings reveal intriguing co-evolutionary processes in which the host's immune system exerts selective pressure on immune genes, resulting in adaptive changes in microbial populations. Our findings suggest that, in most mammalian species, episodic positive selection has played an important essential role in the genetic development of species-specific gene sequences and divergence. Furthermore, we found evidence of broad positive selection during the molecular evolution of immune genes on all branches of the mammalian phylogenetic tree. These results suggest that the gut microbiota plays a crucial role in influencing how mammals adapt to their diet, their ability to change their physical characteristics, the structure of their gastrointestinal system, and their immune response.
Keywords: molecular evolution, Gut Microbiota, humoral immunity, adaptation, selection
Received: 06 Aug 2024; Accepted: 06 Sep 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 AHMAD, Zhang, Mai, Li, Jiang and Chen. 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:
HAFIZ ISHFAQ AHMAD, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Science (CAS), Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
Jinping Chen, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Science (CAS), Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
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