Abstract
In mammals microbial recruitment starts in utero, something that had not been proven in any other vertebrate class. We tested whether this type of recruitment happens in a non-mammalian vertebrate, the viviparous fish Brachyistius frenatus. Our working hypothesis was that the uterine pouch is colonized by a microbiome transmissible to the juveniles, conferring them an ontogeny similar to mammals. We characterized the mode of transmission of the microbiome, explored its ontogeny and established the bacterial diversity of the microbiome of the females, juveniles and their environment with a metagenomic approach (barcoding). We targeted the hyper-variable region V4 of the small subunit (16 S) rRNA gene to determine the presence of a vertical transmission of the microbiome. Our results confirmed the presence of a vertically transmissible microbiome in B. frenatus. This study contributes to the acquisition of knowledge on microbiome transmission and, in the context of evolutionary convergence of viviparity, allows the formulation of hypotheses concerning the evolutionary advantages of in utero microbiome transmission.
In this talk, as a new PhD student at CEES, I will be presenting an overview of the results from my previous work as a Master student at Université Laval.
Speaker
Zoom
This talk will also be available on Zoom. The zoom link will be shared through the CEES seminar mailing list. Contact Tore Wallem if you would like to be forwarded the invitation e-mail.