FIG 3.

Successional ecology is altered by host genetic background. (A to E) Shannon diversity versus log₁₀(CFU/worm) for the data set shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. S3. (A) N2 wild-type worms (n = 164) show a generally negative diversity-population size trend [linear fit y = 1.83 − 0.24x; R²(adj) = 0.09; P = 8.748e−5]. (B) Mechanical mutants (eat-14 and phm-2 mutants) show a trend similar to that of the wild type. (C to E) The diversity-population size relationship in intestinal bacterial communities differs across host lineages. Mutants in the (C) p38 MAPK, (D) TGF-β, and (E) DAF-2/IGF pathways show trends that diverge in some cases (see Table S1) from that observed in N2 (black dots). Note that Shannon diversity in these experiments has a maximum at ln(8) = 2.08. (F to H) Time series of the diversity-population size relationship indicate that succession is altered in DAF-2/IGF mutant hosts. Intestinal communities were quantified for individual worms (n = 24 worms per time point per condition) of (F) N2, (G) daf-16, and (H) daf-2 lineages after 2, 4, and 6 days of colonization on the uniform eight-species metacommunity. CFU-per-worm data underlying panels F to H are shown in Fig. S5.