ArticleThe ISME journal2018
Microbiome assembly of avian eggshells and their potential as transgenerational carriers of maternal microbiota.
Article in The ISME journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed.
- Chick neonatal environment: the presence of a hen, not hatching system, promotes cecal microbiota development and induces limited long-term effects on immunity and redox balance.Poultry science · 2026Article
- Environmental Drivers on Blue Tit Nest Microbiome: An Experimental Study.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Egg microbiome of the yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis) modulates fusariosis fungal infection and hatching success.Communications biology · 2026Article
- The elephant (bird) in the room: unknown mechanisms and unresolved impacts of low DNA yields in avian microbiome research.Animal microbiome · 2026Article
- Metagenomic and Metabolomic Analysis of Intestinal Excrement Differences Between Natural Hatching and Artificial Peeling out of the Shell inAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Seasonal Dynamics of the Gut Microbiome in Urban Feral Pigeons Are Associated With Environmental Conditions, Not With Diet Shifts.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Influence of Nest Microbiota on Hatching Success of Caretta Caretta on Lampedusa Island.Microbial ecology · 2026Article
- Significant impact of threshold adjustments on microbiome characterization following Nanopore sequencing.ISME communications · 2026Article
- DRIVERS OF VARIATION OF THE ZEBRAFISH EGG MICROBIOME.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Pathological Findings of Nestling European Goldfinches (Veterinary sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Changes to the reproductive microbiome of the brood pouch during male pregnancy in seahorses (Hippocampus abdominalis).Reproduction (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
- Host traits rather than migration and molting strategies explain feather bacterial load in Palearctic passerines.iScience · 2024Article
- The reproductive microbiome and maternal transmission of microbiota via eggs in Sceloporus virgatus.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2024Article
- Plumage microorganism communities of tidal marsh sparrows.iScience · 2024Article
- Nearly (?) sterile avian egg in a passerine bird.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2024Article
- Gut microbiota in the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus Aculeatus) shows stability across gestation.MicrobiologyOpen · 2023Article
- Dynamics of Bacterial Communities on Eggshells and on Nest Materials During Incubation in the Oriental Tit (Parus minor).Microbial ecology · 2023Article
- Article
- Wild microbiomes of striped plateau lizards vary with reproductive season, sex, and body size.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The microbiome is essential for development, health and homeostasis throughout an animal's life. Yet, the origins and transmission processes governing animal microbiomes remain elusive for non-human vertebrates, oviparous vertebrates in particular. Eggs may function as transgenerational carriers of the maternal microbiome, warranting characterisation of egg microbiome assembly. Here, we investigated maternal and environmental contributions to avian eggshell microbiota in wild passerine birds: woodlark Lullula arborea and skylark Alauda arvensis. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we demonstrated in both lark species, at the population and within-nest levels, that bacterial communities of freshly laid eggs were distinct from the female cloacal microbiome. Instead, soil-borne bacteria appeared to thrive on freshly laid eggs, and eggshell microbiota composition strongly resembled maternal skin, body feather and nest material communities, sources in direct contact with laid eggs. Finally, phylogenetic structure analysis and microbial source tracking underscored species sorting from directly contacting sources rather than in vivo-transferred symbionts. The female-egg-nest system allowed an integrative assessment of avian egg microbiome assembly, revealing mixed modes of symbiont acquisition not previously documented for vertebrate eggs. Our findings illuminated egg microbiome origins, which suggested a limited potential of eggshells for transgenerational transmission, encouraging further investigation of eggshell microbiome functions in vertebrates.
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