DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Evolution of Great-Ape Gut Microbiomes

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Nearly every environment on earth contains communities of microbes, including the guts of animals, where microbes are increasingly known to play a major role in nutrition and disease. This project aims to develop a new technique for measuring the abundances of the different types of microbes in the guts of the closest relatives of humans, the great apes. Researchers will combine microscopy and gene amplification and sequencing to quantify the total numbers of the various bacterial species that reside within the guts of chimpanzees, bonobos, and two species of gorillas. Results will provide new insights into how disease, evolutionary history, geography, and diet shape the internal microbial communities of primates. The broader impacts of this project include the development of a molecular technique that could find wide application in the study of microbes in medicine and biology. The project will provide research training for a doctoral student and two undergraduate students. The doctoral student will mentor the undergraduates and gain teaching experience towards his goal of starting his own lab.