Co-evolution in context: The importance of studying gut microbiomes in wild animals

As sequencing technology makes data generation faster, cheaper, and more comprehensive, studies of gut microbial communities are multiplying at an astonishing rate. As a result, our understanding of the host-gut microbe relationship is constantly improving. Studies to date have demonstrated that the gut microbiota contributes to host nutrition, health and behavioral patterns by providing energy and nutrients, improving immune function, and influencing the production of neuroactive molecules [1-12]. Changes in the composition of the gut microbial community are known to lead to changes in its function, which can alter host nutrition, health and behavior [6,13-23]. Environmental factors such as diet or social contact are largely responsible for determining the composition of the gut microbial community [24-31], but host genotype also affects the abundances of some microbial genera [28,32,33]. Because host-gut microbe relationships are influenced to some extent by host genotype, and gut microbial community composition differs according to host phylogeny [34-36], discussions of the co-evolution of host and gut microbiota are common in the current literature [7,34-37]. Some researchers argue that since microbes are found in animals as simple as earthworms, the co-evolution of animals and bacteria has been Co-evolution in context: The importance of studying gut microbiomes in wild animals