Microbiomes contribute to variation in many plant and animal traits, suggesting that microbiome-mediated traits could evolve through selection on the host.

Citation:
Andrew H. Morris, Brendan J. M. Bohannan. Estimates of microbiome heritability across hosts. Nature Microbiology, 2024.
Link to paper · DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01865-w · PDF: Read here

Summary#

This paper compiles and analyses published estimates of microbiome heritability across plant and animal hosts. We argue that many mechanisms could contribute to a pattern of heritability including direct and indirect mechanisms (i.e., G-E covariances). And we show that current estimates are limited to a narrow range of hosts. This paper highlights the need for more standardized methods to better understand how microbiomes could respond to selection.

Mechanisms of microbiome inheritance#

A pattern of heritability for the microbiome could emerge from a variety of mechanisms