Doctoral Dissertation Research: Early Life Adversity and Gut Microbiota Composition

本博士论文研究项目考察了雄性领袖接管和杀婴攻击对野生灵长类动物婴儿社会逆境和肠道微生物群的影响。即使婴儿在袭击中幸存下来，他们也可能会经历巨大的压力。压力源会导致发育中的肠道微生物群不稳定，这可能会对宿主的消化和免疫产生负面影响。研究小组调查了肠道菌群的变化是持久的，还是在以后的生活中可以通过稳定的环境来克服。该项目促进了STEM领域第一代研究人员和女性的研究经验，并为一所服务于西班牙裔的公立大学的本科生和研究生提供了基因实验室方法的培训机会。研究结果传达给现场管理人员和当地社区，为灵长类动物管理计划和当地极度濒危野生灵长类动物的保护工作做出贡献。该项目研究了肠道微生物群的发育与生命早期经历的生态和社会压力的关系。利用来自极度濒危灵长类动物疣猴野生种群15年的数据，研究人员调查了：1)不利条件（即食物供应不足、失去母亲亲属、雄性领袖接管和杀婴风险升高）是否能预测婴儿肠道微生物群的组成；2)这些不利条件，无论是目前经历的还是在婴儿时期经历的，是否预测了青少年、亚成年期或成年期的肠道微生物群。每月生态数据和每周人口统计数据用于确定食物丰度、食物竞争、雄性领袖接管、杀婴风险和母系亲属的存在。肠道菌群的组成是通过16S rRNA基因测序确定的，使用的是婴儿和已知婴儿期条件的较晚生命阶段个体的绒毛梭菌粪便样本。该项目研究了早期生活逆境与婴儿期肠道微生物群之间的直接关系，以及这些与婴儿期不利条件相关的潜在变化是否会持续到以后的生命阶段。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This doctoral dissertation research project examines the effects of alpha male takeovers and infanticidal attacks on infant social adversity and gut microbiota in wild primates. Infants may experience significant stress even if they survive an attack. Stressors can cause the developing gut microbiota to destabilize, which may negatively affect host digestion and immunity. The team investigates whether gut microbiota changes are long-lasting or if they can be overcome with stable environments later in life. The project advances research experiences for first-generation researchers and women in STEM and provides training opportunities in genetic laboratory methods for undergraduate and graduate students at a Hispanic-serving public university. Research results are communicated to site managers and the local community at the field location, contributing to primate management plans and local conservation efforts of critically endangered wild primates. This project examines how gut microbiota development associates with ecological and social stressors experienced early in life. Leveraging 15 years of data from a wild population of the critically endangered primate Colobus vellerosus, the researchers investigate: 1) whether adverse conditions (i.e., low food availability, loss of maternal kin, alpha male takeovers, and elevated infanticide risk) predict infant gut microbiota composition; and 2) whether these adverse conditions, either currently experienced and/or experienced as an infant, predict the gut microbiota during juvenescence, subadulthood, or adulthood. Monthly ecological data and weekly demographic data are used to determine food abundance, competition for food, alpha male takeovers, infanticide risk, and presence of maternal kin. The composition of the gut microbiota is determined from 16S rRNA gene sequencing using C. vellerosus fecal samples from infants and from individuals at later age life stages with known infancy conditions. The project addresses immediate relationships between early life adversity and gut microbiota in infancy and whether these potential changes associated with adverse conditions in infancy persist into later life stages.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.