The microbiome and condition-dependent signals in primates

微生物群由生活在动物体内的数万亿细菌和其他微生物组成，人们越来越认识到微生物群对宿主有益。该项目将研究狐猴及其微生物组，了解微生物组在正常宿主功能（如气味标记）中所起的作用，以及当狐猴生病或受伤时，气味和微生物组可能发生的变化。研究结果将促进对微生物在灵长类动物生理维持和信号传导中的作用的基本认识，以及给动物施用广谱抗生素的成本，以及通过补充微生物群落来减轻这些成本。因此，该项目将在优化动物福利和与人类相关的抗生素使用相关的医疗实践方面产生应用效益。这项研究将有助于本科生、研究生、研究生、博士后和教师的教育和专业发展。除了出版物、科学报告、合作和公共宣传活动之外，所有的发现都将与杜克狐猴中心和灵长类微生物组项目共享，以广泛传播和支持灵长类动物保护策略。微生物与广义动物健康之间的关系，特别是在非模型、非实验室物种中，仍然存在根本的差距。因此，两项综合研究（在群居、半自由放养的狐猴中）检验了宿主健康（在健康、受伤和抗生素治疗期间）、各种微生物群落（在肠道、皮肤和专门的气味腺中）和宿主嗅觉信号之间的联系。研究1检查了十年来偶然收集的雄性和雌性狐猴腺体分泌物的化学质量和行为可辨性，在自然发生的伤害之前，期间和之后，使用或不使用抗生素治疗。它测试损伤本身是否会以他人可检测到的方式对信号产生负面影响，以及抗生素治疗导致的微生物消耗是否会加剧信号丢失。研究2进一步探讨了抗生素治疗和微生物移植过程中宿主及其细菌群落之间的共生关系。它测试了这些治疗是否分别破坏和恢复宿主健康（如能量学）、全身各种微生物群落、气味信号和动物之间的信息传递，并通过长期随访揭示了恢复的途径和条件。这些合作研究将传统的护理方法与行为评估、化学、生理、基因组分析和生物信息学方面的各种最新技术结合起来。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。

The microbiome, made up of trillions of bacteria and other microbes that live within animal bodies, is increasingly recognized as being beneficial for its host. This project will study lemurs and their microbiomes, to understand the role that the microbiome plays in normal host functions such as scent marking, and the ways that scent and the microbiome may change when a lemur is ill or injured. The results will advance fundamental knowledge about the role of microbes in physiological maintenance and signaling in primates, as well as the costs to animals of administering broad-spectrum antibiotics and the mitigation of these costs by replenishing microbial communities. The project will thus have applied benefits for optimizing animal welfare and medical practices around the use of antibiotics, with relevance to humans. The research will contribute to the education and professional development of undergraduates, post-graduates, graduate students, post-docs, and faculty. Beyond publications, scientific presentations, collaborations, and public outreach activities, all findings will be shared with the Duke Lemur Center and Primate Microbiome Project, for broad dissemination and support of primate conservation strategies. There remain fundamental gaps in what is known about the relationships between microbes and animal wellness, broadly defined, particularly in non-model, non-laboratory species. Therefore, two integrated studies (in socially housed, semi-free ranging lemurs) examine the connections between host health (during wellness, injury, and antibiotic treatment), various microbial communities (in the gut, on the skin, and in specialized scent glands), and host olfactory signals. Study 1 examines the chemical quality and behavioral discernability of glandular secretions collected opportunistically over the course of a decade, from male and female lemurs, before, during, and after naturally occuring injuries, treated with or without antibiotics. It tests if injury alone negatively impacts signals, in a manner detectable by others, and if microbial depletion via antibiotic treatment exacerbates signal loss. Study 2 further examines the symbiotic relationships between hosts and their bacterial communities during antibiotic treatment and microbial transplant. It tests if these treatments, respectively, disrupt and restore host health (e.g. energetics), various microbial communities throughout the body, scent signals, and information transfer between animals, with long-term follow up revealing the pathways and conditions of recovery. These collaborative studies combine traditional methods of care with behavioral assessment, various state-of-the-art techniques in chemical, physiological, and genomic analyses, and bioinformatics.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.