Collaborative research: Physiological signatures of variable weaning strategies in wild primates

合作研究：野生灵长类动物不同断奶策略的生理特征

• 批准号: 1723228
• 负责人: Amy Lu
• 金额: $ 36.91万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-01 至 2023-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1723228&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; research; Physiological; signatures; variable

Premature weaning can result in poor infant developmental outcomes and increased infant mortality; however, the social conditions that lead to premature weaning and its consequences are still poorly understood. The central goal of this project is to examine how stressful social conditions linked to the immigration of new adult males and/or poor maternal condition influence the likelihood of premature weaning, and, in turn how premature weaning then influences infant growth, gut microbial colonization, and the development of the immune system in a nonhuman primate model. Given the importance of early weaning as a hallmark of human evolution, developing comprehensive longitudinal models of this early life transition are valuable. In addition, the findings may serve as an animal model for understanding the costs and benefits of truncated or extended breastfeeding in modern humans. The project will provide rigorous scientific training to at least one post-doctoral fellow and several graduate and undergraduate students. The PIs will also engage in public outreach at local and international levels, contributing to scientific education and conservation efforts both domestically and abroad. This project examines the links between social factors, variable weaning strategies, and infant growth and immune system development in geladas. It draws on both cross-sectional and longitudinal data collected from infants aged 0-2.5 years to address the following goals: (1) Determine how social factors related to stressful demographic changes and/or maternal condition influence the timing of nursing cessation; (2) Identify how earlier weaning relative to infant size is related to stunted postnatal growth, altered gut microbial diversity and composition, and the concentration of urinary neopterin, a biomarker for cellular inflammation. Geladas are ideal for this research because their social system is characterized by frequent and stressful social upheavals that disrupt infant development and can even lead to infant mortality. Further, gelada females form strong dominance hierarchies that determine access to food, thus allowing researchers to address how social factors linked to poor maternal nutrition are associated with variable weaning strategies. Together, these attributes make geladas an excellent model system in which to study premature weaning. This study will be one of the first to integrate innovative methods in isotopic/elemental chemistry, genomics, endocrinology, and digital photogrammetry to examine the causes and consequences of premature weaning in wild primate infants, thus identifying some of the key mechanisms bridging early life social adversity to long-term developmental and health. Student trainees will have the opportunity to learn methods in behavioral data collection as well as various wet lab methods to characterize the composition of the gut microbiome and define weaning by the amount of milk vs. plant-origin carbon and nitrogen found in noninvasively collected fecal samples.

过早断奶可能导致婴儿发育不良并增加婴儿死亡率；然而，导致过早断奶的社会条件及其后果仍然知之甚少。该项目的中心目标是研究与新成年雄性移民和/或糟糕的母体条件有关的紧张社会条件如何影响过早断奶的可能性，进而如何在非人类灵长类动物模型中影响婴儿生长、肠道微生物定植和免疫系统的发育。鉴于早期断奶作为人类进化标志的重要性，开发这种早期生命转变的全面纵向模型是有价值的。此外，这些发现可能会作为一个动物模型，用来理解缩短或延长母乳喂养在现代人身上的成本和好处。该项目将为至少一名博士后研究员以及几名研究生和本科生提供严格的科学培训。私人投资促进机构亦会在本地和国际层面进行公众推广，为国内外的科学教育和保育工作作出贡献。这个项目考察了社会因素、不同的断奶策略和婴儿生长和免疫系统发育之间的联系。它利用从0-2.5岁婴儿收集的横断面和纵向数据，以解决以下目标：(1)确定与紧张的人口统计变化和/或产妇状况有关的社会因素如何影响停止哺乳的时间；(2)确定相对于婴儿大小的较早断奶与出生后发育迟缓、肠道微生物多样性和组成改变以及尿新喋呤浓度(细胞炎症的生物标志物)之间的关系。狐狸是这项研究的理想之选，因为它们的社会制度以频繁而充满压力的社会动荡为特征，这些社会动荡扰乱了婴儿的发育，甚至可能导致婴儿死亡。此外，雌性斑羚形成了强大的支配等级，决定了食物的获取，从而使研究人员能够解决与母亲营养不良有关的社会因素与各种断奶策略的关系。总而言之，这些属性使Geladas成为研究过早断奶的极佳模型系统。这项研究将是首批整合同位素/元素化学、基因组学、内分泌学和数字摄影测量的创新方法之一，以研究野生灵长类婴儿过早断奶的原因和后果，从而确定早期社会逆境与长期发展和健康之间的一些关键机制。学员将有机会学习行为数据收集的方法，以及各种湿实验室方法，以确定肠道微生物组的组成，并通过在非侵入性收集的粪便样本中发现的牛奶与植物来源的碳和氮的数量来定义断奶。

项目成果

Beyond infant death: the hidden costs of male immigration in geladas

除了婴儿死亡之外：狒狒中男性移民的隐性成本

• DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.11.010
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Animal Behaviour
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Schneider-Crease, India;Chiou, Kenneth L.;Snyder-Mackler, Noah;Bergman, Thore J.;Beehner, Jacinta C.;Lu, Amy
• 通讯作者: Lu, Amy

Urinary neopterin reflects lifetime variation in innate immunity, helminth-induced immunomodulation, and microbiome diversity in a wild primate.

尿液新蝶呤反映了野生灵长类动物的先天免疫、蠕虫诱导的免疫调节和微生物组多样性的终生变化。

• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Scientific report
• 作者: Schneider-Crease, I.

Assessing male gelada chest patches: color measurement and physiological mechanisms

• DOI: 10.1007/s42991-021-00211-5
• 发表时间: 2022-02-22
• 期刊: MAMMALIAN BIOLOGY
• 影响因子: 1.6
• 作者: DeLacey, Patricia M.;Perlman, Rachel F.;Bergman, Thore J.
• 通讯作者: Bergman, Thore J.

Social drivers of maturation age in female geladas

雌性狒狒成熟年龄的社会驱动因素

• DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arac028
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Behavioral Ecology
• 影响因子: 2.4
• 作者: Feder, Jacob A.;Beehner, Jacinta C.;Baniel, Alice;Bergman, Thore J.;Snyder-Mackler, Noah;Lu, Amy;Jennions, ed., Michael D.
• 通讯作者: Jennions, ed., Michael D.

Male-Mediated Maturation in Wild Geladas

野生狮羚的雄性介导的成熟

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.003
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Current Biology
• 影响因子: 9.2
• 作者: Lu, Amy;Feder, Jacob A.;Snyder-Mackler, Noah;Bergman, Thore J.;Beehner, Jacinta C.
• 通讯作者: Beehner, Jacinta C.