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  • Perspective
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Microbial transmission in animal social networks and the social microbiome

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 4, pages 1020–1035 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Host-associated microbiomes play an increasingly appreciated role in animal metabolism, immunity and health. The microbes in turn depend on their host for resources and can be transmitted across the host’s social network. In this Perspective, we describe how animal social interactions and networks may provide channels for microbial transmission. We propose the ‘social microbiome’ as the microbial metacommunity of an animal social group. We then consider the various social and environmental forces that are likely to influence the social microbiome at multiple scales, including at the individual level, within social groups, between groups, within populations and species, and finally between species. Through our comprehensive discussion of the ways in which sociobiological and ecological factors may affect microbial transmission, we outline new research directions for the field.

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Fig. 1: Social microbiomes as biological archipelagos.
Fig. 2: Processes at different scales influencing the social microbiome.
Fig. 3: Effect of dispersal on the social microbiome.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Allen-Blevins, V. Bentley-Condit, J. Diaz, C. Diggins, K. Eappen, A. Reese, E. Venable and F. Young for helpful discussion and feedback on earlier drafts of this manuscript. A.S., S.H. and R.I.M.D. declare no research funding. K.V.-A.J.’s research has been supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J014427/1). A.H.M.’s research has been supported by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University and by a Miller Research Fellowship from the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at the University of California, Berkeley. E.A.A.’s research has been supported by funds from the National Science Foundation (DEB 1840223 and IOS 1053461). L.D.S.’s research has been supported by the William F. Milton Fund, Harvard Dean’s Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship, and a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. R.N.C.’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (BCS-1919892), National Institutes of Health (R01AG049395), William F. Milton Fund, and the Harvard Dean’s Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship. T.H.C.-B.’s research has been supported by the European Research Council (742808). P.W.J.B.’s research has been supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Council Industrial Partnership Award (BB/I006311/1), and research funds from Clasado Biosciences Ltd.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Siobhán Harty, Katerina V.-A. Johnson, Andrew H. Moeller.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Trinity College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Amar Sarkar

  2. Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Amar Sarkar

  3. Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Siobhán Harty

  4. School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Siobhán Harty

  5. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Katerina V.-A. Johnson & Robin I. M. Dunbar

  6. Pembroke College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Katerina V.-A. Johnson

  7. Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Katerina V.-A. Johnson & Philip W. J. Burnet

  8. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Andrew H. Moeller

  9. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA

    Elizabeth A. Archie

  10. Institute of Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya

    Elizabeth A. Archie

  11. Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Laura D. Schell & Rachel N. Carmody

  12. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Timothy H. Clutton-Brock

  13. Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Timothy H. Clutton-Brock

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Contributions

A.S. developed the general concept and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. K.V.-A.J. substantially edited the content at all stages. S.H. and A.H.M. contributed text and hypotheses to the manuscript throughout its preparation. E.A.A., L.D.S., R.N.C., T.H.C.-B., R.I.M.D. and P.W.J.B. contributed revisions, ideas, text and examples. S.H. drafted the figures, with A.S., K.V.-A.J., A.H.M., E.A.A. and R.N.C. providing input. All authors approved the final manuscript for submission.

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Correspondence to Amar Sarkar.

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Some of P.W.J.B.’s microbiome-related research has been supported by Clasado Biosciences Ltd. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

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Sarkar, A., Harty, S., Johnson, K.VA. et al. Microbial transmission in animal social networks and the social microbiome. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 1020–1035 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1220-8

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