@article{51b1e3316656409aaa93541608191067,
title = "Isolated Grauer's gorilla populations differ in diet and gut microbiome",
abstract = "The animal gut microbiome has been implicated in a number of key biological processes, ranging from digestion to behaviour, and has also been suggested to facilitate local adaptation. Yet studies in wild animals rarely compare multiple populations that differ ecologically, which is the level at which local adaptation may occur. Further, few studies simultaneously characterize diet and gut microbiome from the same sample, despite their probable interdependence. Here, we investigate the interplay between diet and gut microbiome in three geographically isolated populations of the critically endangered Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), which we show to be genetically differentiated. We find population- and social group-specific dietary and gut microbial profiles and covariation between diet and gut microbiome, despite the presence of core microbial taxa. There was no detectable effect of age, and only marginal effects of sex and genetic relatedness on the microbiome. Diet differed considerably across populations, with the high-altitude population consuming a lower diversity of plants compared to low-altitude populations, consistent with plant availability constraining dietary choices. The observed pattern of covariation between diet and gut microbiome is probably a result of long-term social and environmental factors. Our study suggests that the gut microbiome is sufficiently plastic to support flexible food selection and hence contribute to local adaptation.",
keywords = "16S rRNA, critically endangered, faecal DNA, genetic diversity, metabarcoding, trnL",
author = "Alice Michel and Riana Minocher and Niehoff, {Peter Philip} and Yuhong Li and Kevin Nota and Gadhvi, {Maya A.} and Jiancheng Su and Neetha Iyer and Amy Porter and Urbain Ngobobo-As-Ibungu and Escobar Binyinyi and {Nishuli Pekeyake}, Radar and Laura Parducci and Damien Caillaud and Katerina Guschanski",
note = "Funding Information: We thank L'Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) and local landowners and community members for permitting us to work in the Kahuzi‐Biega National Park and the Nkuba Conservation Area. We are indebted to numerous rangers and field assistants in Kahuzi‐Biega National Park as well as field assistants, gorilla trackers and local community members in Nkuba Conservation Area who, through their effort and commitment, support this project and ensure the survival of the Grauer's gorillas. This research was supported by the Swedish Research Council (Formas) grant no. 2019‐00275, the Royal Physiographic Society of Lund Jan L{\"o}fqvist and Nilsson‐Ehle Endowments to K.G., the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Evolutionary Biology Consortium Scholarship to A.M., and the Swedish Phytogeographical Society and the Extensus Foundation Grants to L.P. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund's work in DRC was supported by individual donations and grants from the Great Ape Conservation Fund of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arcus Foundation, the Daniel L. Thorne Foundation and the Turner Foundation. We thank Cl{\`a}udia Fontser{\`e} and three anonymous reviewers for their comments on the manuscript, which substantially improved it. Sequencing was performed by the SNP&SEQ Technology Platform in Uppsala. The SNP&SEQ Technology Platform is part of the National Genomics Infrastructure Sweden and Science of Life Laboratory. The SNP&SEQ Platform is also supported by the Swedish Research Council and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. We also acknowledge the National Bioinformatics Infrastructure for providing computational resources to this project. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",
year = "2022",
month = aug,
day = "17",
doi = "10.1111/mec.16663",
language = "English",
journal = "Molecular Ecology",
issn = "0962-1083",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
}