Associations between fecal hormones and gut microbes in mantled howler
monkeys of Barro Colorado Island, Panama
Abstract
Gut microbial communities have critical effects on the homeostasis and
disease states of animals. Currently, the most well studied portion of
the gut microbiome is the bacteriome, which is the collective taxa of
bacteria that inhabit the gut. Health-related outcomes influenced by the
gut bacteriome are in part a product of bidirectional communication
between bacteria and host via endocrine axes such as the
hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal (HPA) and gonadal axes (HPG). Measuring
these relationships in wild alloprimates offers a novel method for
monitoring the physiological outcomes of ecological interactions with
potential evolutionary significance. Herein, we examined interactions
across the HPA, HPG, and hypothalamo-pituitary thyroid (HPT) axes, and
the fecal bacterial communities of wild mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta
palliata) of Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Using fecal samples (n =
88), we measured fecal estrogens (fE), fecal androgens (fT), fecal
glucocorticoids (fGCs), and fecal thyroid hormone metabolites (fT3) and
sequenced bacterial taxa (n = 55). Bacterial communities were classified
from the phylum to amplicon sequence variant (ASV) level. We found that
alpha diversity of gut bacteria in female howlers was related to an
interaction between fGCs and fE. There was no such interaction with fT.
Beta diversity in female howlers was partially explained by fGCs levels
and group affiliation. In males, we found that fGCs were inversely
correlated with Shannon diversity at the ASV level. Future research
should examine these relationships over time, with the goal of exploring
how short and long term perturbances influence gut bacteria-hormone
relationships in wild and captive animals.