Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of the Gut Microbiome in Digestion and Energy Production in Wild Primates Across a Shifting Nutritional Landscape

对微生物组的研究表明，肠道微生物群落会影响宿主获取能量和储存脂肪的能力。然而，当面临营养供应的环境波动时，肠道微生物组可塑性的意义及其与宿主生存的相关性仍不清楚。这项博士论文研究使用进化和生态学的方法来检查野生灵长类动物肠道微生物区系的变化，这些变化应对森林水果生产中的极端变异性，导致卡路里摄入量的大幅波动和可供消费的食物类型的重大转变。这项研究促进了对灵长类微生物组适应的了解，这也可能为研究现代人的原始人谱系和微生物组功能的适应提供比较数据。该项目为女性和第一代学生完成博士学位提供便利，并为STEM研究中代表性不足的群体的学生提供实地、实验室和生物信息学培训。该项目还通过培训讲习班和协作加强研究地点的研究能力。猩猩应对环境引起的饮食变化，例如减少高达48%的卡路里摄入量，一年中有几个月达不到它们的能量需求。由于在水果稀缺期间，肠道微生物区系有可能成为猩猩能量学的强大驱动力，因此本研究调查了肠道微生物群落组成是否随着营养摄入量的显著波动而变化，以及这些变化是否会导致能量收获和微生物能量产生的增加。更具体地说，这个项目(1)监测水果供应的环境变化；(2)使用观察来估计食物摄入量，并将摄入量与已知的营养价值相匹配；(3)使用下一代DNA测序从粪便样本中识别肠道微生物组成；以及(4)通过测量粪便样本中的短链脂肪酸浓度来近似微生物能量生产。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Studies of the microbiome have shown that gut microbe communities can affect a host’s ability to harvest energy and store fat. However, the significance of gut microbiome plasticity and its relevance to host survival when faced with environmental fluctuations in nutrient availability remains unclear. This doctoral dissertation research uses evolutionary and ecological approaches to examine gut microbiota changes in wild primates that cope with extreme variability in forest fruit production, resulting in substantial fluctuations in caloric intake and major shifts in the types of foods available for consumption. This study advances knowledge about primate microbiome adaptations, which may also provide comparative data for examining adaptations in the hominin lineage and microbiome function in modern humans. The project facilitates doctoral degree completion for a woman and first-generation student and provide field, laboratory, and bioinformatics training for students from groups underrepresented in STEM research. The project also enhance research capacity at the research location through training workshops and collaboration. Orangutans cope with environmentally-induced variations in diet, such as reductions in caloric intake by up to 48%, and fall short of their energetic requirements for several months out of the year. Because gut microbiota have the potential to be powerful drivers of orangutan energetics during periods of fruit scarcity, this study investigates whether gut microbial community compositions change across marked fluctuations in nutritional intake, and also whether those changes result in increased energy harvest and microbial energy production. More specifically, this project (1) monitors environmental changes in fruit availability; (2) uses observations to estimate food intake and match intake with known nutritional values; (3) identifies gut microbial compositions from fecal samples using Next-Generation DNA sequencing; and (4) approximates microbial energy production by measuring short-chain fatty acid concentrations in fecal samples.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.