Interhost dispersal alters microbiome assembly and can overwhelm host innate immunity in an experimental zebrafish model

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1702511114
• Publication Date: 2017-10-03T00:40:29Z
• Authors: Adam R. Burns; Elizabeth Miller; Meghna Agarwal; Annah S. Rolig; Kathryn Milligan-...; Steve Seredick; Karen Guillemin; Brendan J. M. Boh...
• Keywords: Animals, Genetically Modified; 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Myeloid Differentiation Factor 88; Animals; Zebrafish Proteins; Animal Distribution; Immunity, Innate; Zebrafish; Gastrointestinal Microbiome

Significance Manipulating the microbial communities associated with animals to improve host health requires a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms driving microbiome variation, which a strict focus on host-specific factors has been insufficient in providing. We performed an experiment to test whether the movement, or dispersal, of microorganisms among zebrafish hosts could alter the effects of important host factors, using a dispersal-based model to guide the interpretation of results. We observed that interhost dispersal can alter the diversity and composition of microbial communities and overwhelm the effects of the host’s innate immune system. These findings suggest that dispersal is an important mechanism driving microbiome variation and should be considered in future microbiome research.