Dataset Information

Uropygial gland size and composition varies according to experimentally modified microbiome in Great tits.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Parasites exert important selective pressures on host life history traits. In birds, feathers are inhabited by numerous microorganisms, some of them being able to degrade feathers or lead to infections. Preening feathers with secretions of the uropygial gland has been found to act as an antimicrobial defence mechanism, expected to regulate feather microbial communities and thus limit feather abrasion and infections. Here, we used an experimental approach to test whether Great tits (Parus major) modify their investment in the uropygial gland in response to differences in environmental microorganisms. RESULTS:We found that males, but not females, modified the size of their gland when exposed to higher bacterial densities on feathers. We also identified 16 wax esters in the uropygial gland secretions. The relative abundance of some of these esters changed in males and females, while the relative abundance of others changed only in females when exposed to greater bacterial loads on feathers. CONCLUSION:Birds live in a bacterial world composed of commensal and pathogenic microorganisms. This study provides the first experimental evidence for modifications of investment in the defensive trait that is the uropygial gland in response to environmental microorganisms in a wild bird.

SUBMITTER: Jacob S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4074404 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Uropygial gland size and composition varies according to experimentally modified microbiome in Great tits.

Jacob Staffan S Immer Anika A Leclaire Sarah S Parthuisot Nathalie N Ducamp Christine C Espinasse Gilles G Heeb Philipp P

BMC evolutionary biology 20140617

<h4>Background</h4>Parasites exert important selective pressures on host life history traits. In birds, feathers are inhabited by numerous microorganisms, some of them being able to degrade feathers or lead to infections. Preening feathers with secretions of the uropygial gland has been found to act as an antimicrobial defence mechanism, expected to regulate feather microbial communities and thus limit feather abrasion and infections. Here, we used an experimental approach to test whether Great ...[more]

PMID: 24938652

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Project description:For many animals, long-range signalling is essential to maintain contact with conspecifics. In territorial species, individuals often have to balance signalling towards unfamiliar potential competitors (to solely broadcast territory ownership) with signalling towards familiar immediate neighbours (to also maintain so-called "dear enemy" relations). Hence, to understand how signals evolve due to these multilevel relationships, it is important to understand how general signal traits vary in relation to the overall social environment. For many territorial songbirds dawn is a key signalling period, with several neighbouring individuals singing simultaneously without immediate conflict. In this study we tested whether sharing a territory boundary, rather than spatial proximity, is related to similarity in dawn song traits between territorial great tits (Parus major) in a wild personality-typed population. We collected a large dataset of automatized dawn song recordings from 72 unique male great tits, during the fertile period of their mate, and compared specific song traits between neighbours and non-neighbours. We show here that both song rate and start time of dawn song were repeatable song traits. Moreover, neighbours were significantly more dissimilar in song rate compared to non-neighbours, while there was no effect of proximity on song rate similarity. Additionally, similarity in start time of dawn song was unrelated to sharing a territory boundary, but birds were significantly more similar in start time of dawn song when they were breeding in close proximity of each other. We suggest that the dissimilarity in dawn song rate between neighbours is either the result of neighbouring great tits actively avoiding similar song rates to possibly prevent interference, or a passive consequence of territory settlement preferences relative to the types of neighbours. Neighbourhood structuring is therefore likely to be a relevant selection pressure shaping variation in territorial birdsong.

Project description:The uropygial gland (preen gland) of birds plays an important role in maintaining feather integrity and hygiene. Although a few studies have demonstrated potential defensive roles of bacteria residing within these glands, the diversity and functions of the uropygial gland microbiota are largely unknown. Therefore, we investigated the microbiota of great tit (Parus major) uropygial glands through both isolation of bacteria (culture-dependent) and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing (culture-independent). Co-culture experiments of selected bacterial isolates with four known feather-degrading bacteria (Bacillus licheniformis, Kocuria rhizophila, Pseudomonas monteilii, and Dermacoccus nishinomiyaensis), two non-feather degrading feather bacteria, one common soil bacterial pathogen and two common fungal pathogens enabled us to evaluate the potential antimicrobial properties of these isolates. Our results show major differences between bacterial communities characterized using culture-dependent and -independent approaches. In the former, we were only able to isolate 12 bacterial genera (dominated by members of the Firmicutes and Actinobacteria), while amplicon sequencing identified 110 bacterial genera (dominated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria). Uropygial gland bacterial isolates belonging to the genera Bacillus and Kocuria were able to suppress the growth of four of the nine tested antagonists, attesting to potential defensive roles. However, these bacterial genera were infrequent in our MiSeq results suggesting that the isolated bacteria may not be obligate gland symbionts. Furthermore, bacterial functional predictions using 16S rRNA sequences also revealed the ability of uropygial gland bacteria to produce secondary metabolites with antimicrobial properties, such as terpenes. Our findings support that uropygial gland bacteria may play a role in feather health and that bacterial symbionts might act as defensive microbes. Future investigations of these bacterial communities, with targeted approaches (e.g., bacterial isolation and chemical analyses), are thus warranted to improve our understanding of the evolution and function of these host-microbe interactions.

Dataset Information

Uropygial gland size and composition varies according to experimentally modified microbiome in Great tits.

Publications

Uropygial gland size and composition varies according to experimentally modified microbiome in Great tits.

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