Individual diet has sex-dependent effects on vertebrate gut microbiota

Daniel I. Bolnick (), Lisa K. Snowberg, Philipp E. Hirsch, Christian L. Lauber, Elin Org, Brian Parks, Aldons J. Lusis, Rob Knight, J. Gregory Caporaso and Richard Svanbäck
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Daniel I. Bolnick: University of Texas at Austin
Lisa K. Snowberg: University of Texas at Austin, One University Station C0990, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
Philipp E. Hirsch: Uppsala University
Christian L. Lauber: Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado
Elin Org: University of California
Brian Parks: University of California
Aldons J. Lusis: University of California
Rob Knight: University of Colorado
J. Gregory Caporaso: Northern Arizona University
Richard Svanbäck: Uppsala University

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Vertebrates harbour diverse communities of symbiotic gut microbes. Host diet is known to alter microbiota composition, implying that dietary treatments might alleviate diseases arising from altered microbial composition (‘dysbiosis’). However, it remains unclear whether diet effects are general or depend on host genotype. Here we show that gut microbiota composition depends on interactions between host diet and sex within populations of wild and laboratory fish, laboratory mice and humans. Within each of two natural fish populations (threespine stickleback and Eurasian perch), among-individual diet variation is correlated with individual differences in gut microbiota. However, these diet–microbiota associations are sex dependent. We document similar sex-specific diet–microbiota correlations in humans. Experimental diet manipulations in laboratory stickleback and mice confirmed that diet affects microbiota differently in males versus females. The prevalence of such genotype by environment (sex by diet) interactions implies that therapies to treat dysbiosis might have sex-specific effects.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5500

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