Host-genotype dependent gut microbiota drives zooplankton tolerance to toxic cyanobacteria

The gut microbiota impacts many aspects of its host’s biology, and is increasingly considered as a key factor mediating performance of host individuals in continuously changing environments. Here we use gut microbiota transplants to show that both host genotype and gut microbiota mediate tolerance to toxic cyanobacteria in the freshwater crustacean Daphnia magna. Interclonal variation in tolerance to cyanobacteria disappears when Daphnia are made germ-free and inoculated with an identical microbial inoculum. Instead, variation in tolerance among recipient Daphnia mirrors that of the microbiota donors. Metagenetic analyses point to host genotype and external microbial source as important determinants of gut microbiota assembly, and reveal strong differences in gut microbiota composition between tolerant and susceptible genotypes. Together, these results show that both environmentally and host genotype-induced variations in gut microbiota structure mediate Daphnia tolerance to toxic cyanobacteria, pointing to the gut microbiota as a driver of adaptation and acclimatization to cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms in zooplankton.