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Coding of Group Odor in the Subcaudal Gland Secretion of the European Badger Meles meles: Chemical Composition and Pouch Microbiota

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Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 13

Abstract

The fermentation hypothesis predicts that odor profiles of mammals depend partly on the primary gland products excreted by the animal and partly on the composition of the bacterial flora converting these into secondary metabolites. Some mammalian odors, such as shared group odors, however, need to be consistent yet flexible (e.g., to allow for changes in social-group affiliation), and are thus predisposed for microbial mediation. Using terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length polymorphism analyses we analyzed the microbial community in subcaudal-gland secretions of European badgers (Meles meles) in relation to the chemical scent profiles as determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses (GCMS) of 66 adults belonging to six different social groups. We found a total of 50 TRFs and 125 different chemical compounds with a subset of four TRFs best explaining the structure in the chemical matrix. Nevertheless, although semiochemical profiles were group specific, microbial profiles were not. In our approach, however, the number of operational taxonomic units exceeded the numbers of TRFs, and thus our analyses were likely limited by the afforded resolution. As it is likely that the variation in metabolic activity is found at the species-, subspecies-, or even strain-level, future high-throughput sequencing can be expected to reveal more subtle differences in the microbial communities between social groups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, OX13 5QL, UK

    Christina D. Buesching, YungWa Sin & David W. Macdonald

  2. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Environmental and Health Studies, Telemark University College, 3800, Bø, Telemark, Norway

    H. Veronica Tinnesand & Frank Rosell

  3. NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility – Sheffield, Department of Animal & Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    YungWa Sin & Terry Burke

Authors
  1. Christina D. Buesching
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  2. H. Veronica Tinnesand
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  3. YungWa Sin
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  4. Frank Rosell
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  5. Terry Burke
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  6. David W. Macdonald
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Correspondence to Christina D. Buesching .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA

    Bruce A. Schulte

  2. Department of Chemistry, Hendrix College, Conway, Arkansas, USA

    Thomas E. Goodwin

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    Michael H. Ferkin

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Buesching, C.D., Tinnesand, H.V., Sin, Y., Rosell, F., Burke, T., Macdonald, D.W. (2016). Coding of Group Odor in the Subcaudal Gland Secretion of the European Badger Meles meles: Chemical Composition and Pouch Microbiota. In: Schulte, B., Goodwin, T., Ferkin, M. (eds) Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22026-0_5

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