Stochastic assembly produces heterogeneous communities in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine
Host-associated bacterial communities vary extensively between individuals, but it can be very difficult to determine the sources of this heterogeneity. Here, we demonstrate that stochastic bacterial community assembly in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine is sufficient to produce strong interworm...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Public Library of Science
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110065 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9929-6109 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-8555 |
| _version_ | 1826218170137968640 |
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| author | Vega, Nicole Gore, Jeff |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Vega, Nicole Gore, Jeff |
| author_sort | Vega, Nicole |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Host-associated bacterial communities vary extensively between individuals, but it can be very difficult to determine the sources of this heterogeneity. Here, we demonstrate that stochastic bacterial community assembly in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine is sufficient to produce strong interworm heterogeneity in community composition. When worms are fed with two neutrally competing, fluorescently labeled bacterial strains, we observe stochastically driven bimodality in community composition, in which approximately half of the worms are dominated by each bacterial strain. A simple model incorporating stochastic colonization suggests that heterogeneity between worms is driven by the low rate at which bacteria successfully establish new intestinal colonies. We can increase this rate experimentally by feeding worms at high bacterial density; in these conditions, the bimodality disappears. These results demonstrate that demographic noise is a potentially important driver of diversity in bacterial community formation and suggest a role for C. elegans as a model system for ecology of host-associated communities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T17:15:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/110065 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T17:15:07Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1100652022-09-30T00:45:39Z Stochastic assembly produces heterogeneous communities in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine Vega, Nicole Gore, Jeff Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Vega, Nicole Gore, Jeff Host-associated bacterial communities vary extensively between individuals, but it can be very difficult to determine the sources of this heterogeneity. Here, we demonstrate that stochastic bacterial community assembly in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine is sufficient to produce strong interworm heterogeneity in community composition. When worms are fed with two neutrally competing, fluorescently labeled bacterial strains, we observe stochastically driven bimodality in community composition, in which approximately half of the worms are dominated by each bacterial strain. A simple model incorporating stochastic colonization suggests that heterogeneity between worms is driven by the low rate at which bacteria successfully establish new intestinal colonies. We can increase this rate experimentally by feeding worms at high bacterial density; in these conditions, the bimodality disappears. These results demonstrate that demographic noise is a potentially important driver of diversity in bacterial community formation and suggest a role for C. elegans as a model system for ecology of host-associated communities. 2017-06-20T17:09:18Z 2017-06-20T17:09:18Z 2017-03 2016-07 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1545-7885 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110065 Vega, Nicole M., and Jeff Gore. “Stochastic Assembly Produces Heterogeneous Communities in the Caenorhabditis Elegans Intestine.” Ed. Ken Cadwell. PLOS Biology 15.3 (2017): e2000633. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9929-6109 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-8555 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2000633 PLOS Biology Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Public Library of Science PLoS |
| spellingShingle | Vega, Nicole Gore, Jeff Stochastic assembly produces heterogeneous communities in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine |
| title | Stochastic assembly produces heterogeneous communities in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine |
| title_full | Stochastic assembly produces heterogeneous communities in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine |
| title_fullStr | Stochastic assembly produces heterogeneous communities in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stochastic assembly produces heterogeneous communities in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine |
| title_short | Stochastic assembly produces heterogeneous communities in the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine |
| title_sort | stochastic assembly produces heterogeneous communities in the caenorhabditis elegans intestine |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110065 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9929-6109 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-8555 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT veganicole stochasticassemblyproducesheterogeneouscommunitiesinthecaenorhabditiselegansintestine AT gorejeff stochasticassemblyproducesheterogeneouscommunitiesinthecaenorhabditiselegansintestine |