1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
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Host genetic selection for cold tolerance shapes microbiome composition and modulates its response to temperature

  1. Fotini Kokou
  2. Goor Sasson
  3. Tali Nitzan
  4. Adi Doron-Faigenboim
  5. Sheenan Harpaz
  6. Avner Cnaani
  7. Itzhak Mizrahi  Is a corresponding author
  1. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
  2. Agricultural Research Organization, Israel
Research Article
  • Cited 38
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Cite this article as: eLife 2018;7:e36398 doi: 10.7554/eLife.36398

Abstract

The hologenome concept proposes that microbes together with their hosting organism are an independent unit of selection. Motivated by this concept, we hypothesized that thermal acclimation in poikilothermic organisms is connected to their microbiome composition due to their inability to maintain their body temperature. To test this hypothesis, we used a unique experimental setup with a transgenerational selective breeding scheme for cold tolerance in tropical tilapias. We tested the effects of the selection on the gut microbiome and host transcriptomic response. Interestingly, we found that host genetic selection for thermal tolerance shapes microbiome composition and its response to cold. The microbiomes of cold-resistant fish showed higher resilience to temperature changes, indicating that the microbiome is shaped by its host's selection. These findings are consistent with the hologenome concept and highlight the connection between the host and its microbiome's response to the environment.

Data availability

Data has been deposited in the SRA under accession code SRP131209.

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Fotini Kokou

    Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Goor Sasson

    Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Tali Nitzan

    Department of Poultry and Aquaculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Rishon LeZion, Israel
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Adi Doron-Faigenboim

    Department of Vegetable and Field Crops, Institute of Plant Science, Agricultural Research Organization, Rishon LeZion, Israel
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Sheenan Harpaz

    Department of Poultry and Aquaculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Rishon LeZion, Israel
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Avner Cnaani

    Department of Poultry and Aquaculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Rishon LeZion, Israel
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  7. Itzhak Mizrahi

    Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
    For correspondence
    imizrahi@bgu.ac.il
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-6636-8818

Funding

European Research Council (Grant 640384)

  • Fotini Kokou
  • Goor Sasson
  • Tali Nitzan
  • Adi Doron-Faigenboim
  • Sheenan Harpaz
  • Avner Cnaani
  • Itzhak Mizrahi

Israel Science Foundation (Grant number 1313/13)

  • Fotini Kokou
  • Goor Sasson
  • Tali Nitzan
  • Adi Doron-Faigenboim
  • Sheenan Harpaz
  • Avner Cnaani
  • Itzhak Mizrahi

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Grant number 863-0045)

  • Fotini Kokou
  • Goor Sasson
  • Tali Nitzan
  • Adi Doron-Faigenboim
  • Sheenan Harpaz
  • Avner Cnaani
  • Itzhak Mizrahi

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: This study was approved by the Agricultural Research Organization Committee for Ethics in Using Experimental Animals and was carried out in compliance with the current laws governing biological research in Israel (Approval number: 146/09IL).

Reviewing Editor

  1. Rob Knight, University of California, San Diego, United States

Publication history

  1. Received: March 5, 2018
  2. Accepted: November 6, 2018
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: November 20, 2018 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: December 3, 2018 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2018, Kokou et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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