BACKGROUND: The vertebrate gastrointestinal tract is colonised by microbiota that have a major effect on the host's health, physiology and phenotype. Once introduced into captivity, however, the gut microbial composition of free-living individuals can change dramatically. At present, little is known about gut microbial changes associated with adaptation to a synanthropic lifestyle in commensal species, compared with their non-commensal counterparts. Here, we compare the taxonomic composition and diversity of bacterial and fungal communities across three gut sections in synanthropic house mouse (Mus musculus) and a closely related non-synanthropic mound-building mouse (Mus spicilegus). RESULTS: Using Illumina sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA amplicons, we found higher bacterial diversity in M. spicilegus and detected 11 bacterial operational taxonomic units with significantly different proportions. Notably, abundance of Oscillospira, which is typically higher in lean or outdoor pasturing animals, was more abundant in non-commensal M. spicilegus. ITS2-based barcoding revealed low diversity and high uniformity of gut fungi in both species, with the genus Kazachstania clearly dominant. CONCLUSIONS: Though differences in gut bacteria observed in the two species can be associated with their close association with humans, changes due to a move from commensalism to captivity would appear to have caused larger shifts in microbiota.

• MeSH
• Bacteria klasifikace   genetika   izolace a purifikace   MeSH
• ekologie MeSH
• feces mikrobiologie   MeSH
• fylogeneze MeSH
• houby klasifikace   genetika   izolace a purifikace   MeSH
• mikrobiota MeSH
• mykobiom MeSH
• myši MeSH
• ribozomální DNA genetika   MeSH
• RNA ribozomální 16S genetika   MeSH
• sekvenční analýza DNA metody   MeSH
• vysoce účinné nukleotidové sekvenování MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• myši MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• srovnávací studie MeSH

Being subject to intense post-copulatory selection, sperm size is a principal determining component of male fitness. Although previous studies have presented comparative sperm size data at higher taxonomic levels, information on the evolution of sperm size within species is generally lacking. Here, we studied two house mouse subspecies, Mus musculus musculus and Mus musculus domesticus, which undergo incipient speciation. We measured four sperm dimensions from cauda epididymis smears of 28 wild-caught mice of both subspecies. As inbred mouse strains are frequently used as proxies for exploring evolutionary processes, we further studied four wild-derived inbred strains from each subspecies. The subspecies differed significantly in terms of sperm head length and midpiece length, and these differences were consistent for wild mice and wild-derived strains pooled over genomes. When the inbred strains were analyzed individually, however, their strain-specific values were in some cases significantly shifted from subspecies-specific values derived from wild mice. We conclude that: (1) the size of sperm components differ in the two house mouse subspecies studied, and that (2) wild-derived strains reflect this natural polymorphism, serving as a potential tool to identify the genetic variation driving these evolutionary processes. Nevertheless, we suggest that more strains should be used in future experiments to account for natural variation and to avoid confounding results due to reduced variability and/or founder effect in the individual strains.

• MeSH
• genetická variace MeSH
• inbrední kmeny myší MeSH
• myši MeSH
• spermie cytologie   MeSH
• vznik druhů (genetika) * MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• myši MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

Male aggressiveness is a complex behavior influenced by a number of genetic and non-genetic factors. Traditionally, the contribution of each of these factors has been established from experiments using artificially selected strains for high/low aggressive phenotypes. However, little is known about the factors underlying aggressive behavior in natural populations. In this study, we assess the influence of genetic background vs. postnatal maternal environment using a set of cross-fostering experiments between two wild-derived inbred strains, displaying high (STRA, derived from Mus musculus domesticus) and low (BUSNA, derived from Mus musculus musculus) levels of aggressiveness. The role of maternal environment was tested in males with the same genetic background (i.e. strain origin) reared under three different conditions: unfostered (weaned by mother), infostered (weaned by an unfamiliar dam from the same strain), and cross-fostered (weaned by a dam from a different strain). All males were tested against non-aggressive opponents from the A/J inbred strain. Resource-holding potential was assessed through body weight gains and territory ownership. The STRA males were shown to be aggressive in both neutral cage and resident-intruder tests. On the contrary, the BUSNA males were less aggressive in all tests. We did not find a significant effect of postnatal maternal environment; however, we detected significant maternal effect on body weight with differences between the strains, fostering type and interactions between these factors. We conclude that the aggressiveness preserved in the two strains has significant genetic component whose genetic basis can be dissected by quantitative trait loci analysis.

• MeSH
• agrese fyziologie   MeSH
• analýza rozptylu MeSH
• chování zvířat fyziologie   MeSH
• divoká zvířata MeSH
• dominance a subordinace MeSH
• druhová specificita MeSH
• mateřské chování fyziologie   MeSH
• myši MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• myši MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH