Microbes, Diet, and Hominin Evolution: Comparative and Metagenomic Approaches

本研究将探索人类和非人类灵长类动物胃肠道中的微生物群落，以了解微生物在人类、人类祖先和相关物种的进化中所起的作用。这个项目代表了第一个以微生物在人类进化中的作用为中心的大规模比较研究项目。通过收集作为该项目的一部分的数据，研究人员将能够评估微生物群落的变化是否影响了人类的进化，或者人类的进化是否在很大程度上独立于微生物代谢，其中文化或其他创新发挥了更大的作用。该研究将使用两个互补的数据集来调查人类和非人类灵长类动物饮食中微生物组的重要性。首先，将描述24种非人灵长类动物（包括人类）体内微生物的分类组成。其次，将分析包括人类在内的十种灵长类动物的微生物代谢过程。这些证据线将根据每个物种的饮食信息进行评估，并代表所有主要的灵长类动物饮食类别。将对灵长类动物进行广泛的分类分析，并利用人类进化过程中饮食变化的信息。微生物样本的遗传分析将涉及先进的和新兴的测序和宏基因组技术，重点关注两种类型的微生物：细菌和古细菌，一组单细胞微生物，曾经与细菌归为一类，但现在被认为是一个进化上不同的群体。这项研究的主要智力贡献将是了解灵长类宿主和共生微生物的进化动力学，特别是确定微生物是否提供宿主无法自行进化的益处。就更广泛的影响而言，这项研究将为评估人类微生物疾病建立一个进化基线。这将通过人类微生物组计划补充正在进行的研究。这一发现有望为广泛的人类胃肠道疾病提供见解。此外，该项目将培训和发展学生和研究人员的研究能力，包括来自代表性不足群体的学生和研究人员。

This research will explore microbial communities residing in human and nonhuman primate gastrointestinal tracts in order to understand the roles microbes have played in the evolution of humans, human ancestors, and related species. This project represents the first large-scale comparative research project centered on the roles of microbes in human evolution. With data collected as part of this project, the researchers will be able to assess whether changes in microbial communities influenced human evolution or whether humans evolved largely independently of microbial metabolism, where cultural or other innovations have played a larger role. The research will use two complementary data sets to investigate the significance of microbiomes in human and nonhuman primate diets. First, the taxonomic composition of microbes residing in twenty-four nonhuman primate species, including humans, will be described. Second, the metabolic processes undertaken by microbes in ten primate species, including humans, will be analyzed. These lines of evidence will be evaluated in light of dietary information for each species, with all major primate dietary categories represented. A broad taxonomic range of primates will be analyzed, and information about dietary changes during human evolution will be utilized. The genetic analyses of microbial samples will involve advanced and emerging sequencing and metagenomic techniques focused on two types of microbe: bacteria and archaea, a group of single-celled microorganisms that were once grouped with bacteria, but are now considered to be an evolutionarily distinct group.The main intellectual contribution of this study will be to understand the evolutionary dynamics of primate hosts and commensal microbes, particularly to determine if microbes provide benefits that hosts could not have evolved on their own.With respect to broader impacts, this research will establish an evolutionary baseline for assessing human microbial diseases. This will complement ongoing research through the Human Microbiome Project. The findings are expected to provide insights into a wide range of human gastrointestinal diseases. In addition, the project will train and develop the research capabilities of students and researchers, including those from underrepresented groups.