Natural experiments and long-term monitoring are critical to understand and predict marine host–microbe ecology and evolution

Matthieu Leray; Laetitia G. E. Wilkins; Amy Apprill; Holly M. Bik; Friederike Clever; Sean R. Connolly; Marina E. De León; J. Emmett Duffy; Leïla Ezzat; Sarah Gignoux-Wolfsohn; Edward Allen Herre; Jonathan Z. Kaye; David I. Kline; Jordan G. Kueneman; Melissa K. McCormick; W. Owen McMillan; Aaron O’Dea; Tiago J. Pereira; Jillian M. Petersen; Daniel F. Petticord; Mark E. Torchin; Rebecca Vega Thurber; Elin Videvall; William T. Wcislo; Benedict Yuen; Jonathan A. Eisen

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3001322

Titel

Natural experiments and long-term monitoring are critical to understand and predict marine host–microbe ecology and evolution

Autor*in

Matthieu Leray

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Laetitia G. E. Wilkins

UC Davis Genome Center, University of California, Davis

Amy Apprill

Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

... show all

Abstract

Marine multicellular organisms host a diverse collection of bacteria, archaea, microbial eukaryotes, and viruses that form their microbiome. Such host-associated microbes can significantly influence the host’s physiological capacities; however, the identity and functional role(s) of key members of the microbiome (“core microbiome”) in most marine hosts coexisting in natural settings remain obscure. Also unclear is how dynamic interactions between hosts and the immense standing pool of microbial genetic variation will affect marine ecosystems’ capacity to adjust to environmental changes. Here, we argue that significantly advancing our understanding of how host-associated microbes shape marine hosts’ plastic and adaptive responses to environmental change requires (i) recognizing that individual host–microbe systems do not exist in an ecological or evolutionary vacuum and (ii) expanding the field toward long-term, multidisciplinary research on entire communities of hosts and microbes. Natural experiments, such as time-calibrated geological events associated with well-characterized environmental gradients, provide unique ecological and evolutionary contexts to address this challenge. We focus here particularly on mutualistic interactions between hosts and microbes, but note that many of the same lessons and approaches would apply to other types of interactions.

Stichwort

Microbial evolutionHost-pathogen interactionsMarine ecologyMicrobial ecologyMicrobiomeCommunity ecologyMarine ecosystemsMarine geology

Objekt-Typ

journal article

Sprache

Englisch [eng]

Persistent identifier

phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1603847

DOI

10.1371/journal.pbio.3001322

Erschienen in

Titel