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

这项研究将探索驻留在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进化中所起的作用。该项目是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。通过将收集的数据作为该项目的一部分，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，或者人类的进化在很大程度上是独立于微生物代谢的，在微生物代谢中，文化或其他创新发挥了更大的作用。这项研究将使用两个互补的数据集来调查微生物群在人类和非人类灵长类饮食中的意义。首先，将描述包括人类在内的24个非人类灵长类物种中的微生物的分类组成。其次，将分析微生物在包括人类在内的10个灵长类物种中进行的代谢过程。这些证据将根据每个物种的饮食信息进行评估，其中包括所有主要的灵长类饮食类别。将分析灵长类动物的广泛分类范围，并利用有关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元基因组学技术，重点关注两种类型的微生物：细菌和古生菌，这是一组曾经与细菌聚在一起的单细胞微生物，但现在被认为是一个进化上截然不同的群体。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态，特别是确定微生物是否提供宿主本身无法进化的好处。从更广泛的影响来看，这项研究将为评估人类微生物疾病建立一个进化基线。这将补充正在通过人类微生物组项目进行的研究。这些发现有望为人类广泛的胃肠道疾病提供洞察力。此外，该项目将培训和发展学生和研究人员的研究能力，包括那些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.