ArticleThe ISME journal2021
Social networks strongly predict the gut microbiota of wild mice.
Article in The ISME journal, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
82 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A host of issues: pseudoreplication in host-microbiota studies.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2024Pooled it
- Gut protozoa of wild rodents - a meta-analysis.Parasitology · 2024Pooled it
- Diet, Microbes, and Cancer Across the Tree of Life: a Systematic Review.Current nutrition reports · 2022Pooled it
- Social organization and habitat use shape the gut microbiome of a marine fish.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- The island biology of the host microbiome.Trends in microbiology · 2026Review
- Society and the Microbiome: A Biopsychosocial Window Into Comprehensive Well-Being: A Review.Health science reports · 2026Article
- The gut microbiome shapes social behaviour across animal species.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Social microbiome transmission predicts microbial specialization and host lifespan in a wild primate.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Social Structure and Interactions Differentially Shape Aerotolerant and Anaerobic Gut Microbiomes in a Cooperative Breeding Species.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Article
- Perioperative gut microbiota homeostasis and its interactions with anesthetic agents: recent advances.American journal of translational research · 2026Review
- Marginal link between sociality and gut microbiome in disparate mammalian hosts.FEMS microbes · 2026Article
- Passive environmental and group-level processes drive gut microbiome composition in a wild corvid.Animal microbiome · 2025Article
- Unravelling the impacts of captivity on saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) cloacal bacterial communities and physiology.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2025Article
- Gut Microbiome of Two Rodent Species (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Indirect Environmental Effects on the Gut-Brain Axis in a Wild Mammal.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- DRIVERS OF VARIATION OF THE ZEBRAFISH EGG MICROBIOME.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- A comprehensive atlas of the bonobo gut bacteriome and its associated host and exposome factors.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Social Microbial Transmission in a Solitary Mammal.Ecology letters · 2025Article
- Mucosal immune responses and intestinal microbiome associations in wild spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta).Communications biology · 2025Article
22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The mammalian gut teems with microbes, yet how hosts acquire these symbionts remains poorly understood. Research in primates suggests that microbes can be picked up via social contact, but the role of social interactions in non-group-living species remains underexplored. Here, we use a passive tracking system to collect high resolution spatiotemporal activity data from wild mice (Apodemus sylvaticus). Social network analysis revealed social association strength to be the strongest predictor of microbiota similarity among individuals, controlling for factors including spatial proximity and kinship, which had far smaller or nonsignificant effects. This social effect was limited to interactions involving males (male-male and male-female), implicating sex-dependent behaviours as driving processes. Social network position also predicted microbiota richness, with well-connected individuals having the most diverse microbiotas. Overall, these findings suggest social contact provides a key transmission pathway for gut symbionts even in relatively asocial mammals, that strongly shapes the adult gut microbiota. This work underlines the potential for individuals to pick up beneficial symbionts as well as pathogens from social interactions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.