@misc{10481/78586,
year = {2022},
month = {11},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/78586},
abstract = {Symbiotic bacteria on animal hosts can prevent pathogenic bacterial infections by several mechanisms. Among them, symbiotic bacteria can indirectly enhance host’s immune responses or, directly, produce antimicrobial substances against pathogens. Due to differences in life-style, different host species are under different risks of microbial infections. Consequently, if symbiotic bacteria are somewhat selected by genetically determined host characteristics, we would expect the antimicrobial properties of bacterial symbionts to vary among host species and to be distributed according to risk of infection. Here we have tested this hypothesis by measuring the antimicrobial ability of the bacterial strains isolated from the uropygial-gland skin of 19 bird species differing in nesting habits, and, therefore, in risk of microbial infection. In accordance with our predictions, intensity and range of antimicrobial effects against the indicator strains assayed varied among bird species, with hole-and open-nesters showing the highest and the lowest values, respectively. Since it is broadly accepted that hole-nesters have higher risks of microbial infection than open nesters, our results suggest that the risk of infection is a strong driver of natural selection to enhance immunocompetence of animals through selecting for antibiotic-producing symbionts. Future research should focus on characterizing symbiotic bacterial communities and detecting coevolutionary processes with particular antibiotic-producing bacteria within-host species.},
organization = {Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación projects CGL2017-83103-P, PID2020-117429GB-C21, and PID2020-117429GB-C22},
organization = {European Regional Development Fund},
organization = {Agencia Estatal de Investigación 10.13039/501100011033},
publisher = {Frontiers Media},
keywords = {Antimicrobial activity},
keywords = {Antibiotic-producing bacteria},
keywords = {Birds},
keywords = {Natural selection},
keywords = {Symbiotic bacteria},
keywords = {Uropygial gland},
keywords = {Uropygial secretion},
title = {Microbial infection risk predicts antimicrobial potential of avian symbionts},
doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2022.1010961},
author = {Martínez-Renau, Ester and Martín-Vivaldi Martínez, Manuel Lorenzo and Martín Platero, Antonio Manuel},
}