Doctoral Dissertation Research: Nutritional ontogeny and development of the microbiome in primates

幼小的灵长类动物必须在复杂的营养世界中穿行，甚至在它们完全发育出成年动物所使用的机械、行为、生理和微生物适应能力之前。以树叶等高纤维食物为食的foliv食性物种面临着特别具有挑战性的营养环境，需要专门的策略和适应。这些适应包括一个共生的胃肠道微生物群，它在高纤维食物的营养分解和捕获中起着核心作用。本博士论文项目将探讨在灵长类动物幼体生长和发育过程中，微生物群在营养策略中的作用，促进对灵长类动物微生物群、营养和生活史适应的认识。该项目将支持学生在STEM研究、若干跨机构和国际合作、社区科学和保护推广方面的培训和指导。调查人员将把重点放在大猩猩身上，因为它们在极端生态环境中占据着独特的营养位置；它们生活在高海拔地区，高能量食物来源（如成熟的水果）非常有限。作为一种专业的folivate，它们是测试营养发育和生活史之间关系的有用模型。项目目标将解决1)山地大猩猩幼崽的营养摄入和喂养策略；2)婴幼儿胃肠道微生物组动态；3)微生物作为一种营养策略的功能贡献。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。

Infant and juvenile primates must navigate a complex nutritional world, even before they have fully developed the mechanical, behavioral, physiological, and microbial adaptations used by adults. Folivorous species, which rely on diets high in fibrous foods like leaves, face an especially challenging nutritional environment requiring specialized strategies and adaptations. These adaptations include a symbiotic gastrointestinal microbiome, which plays a central role in the breakdown and capture of nutrients from high-fiber foods. This doctoral dissertation project will investigate the role of the microbiome in the nutritional strategy of a folivorous primate during juvenile growth and development, advancing knowledge about the primate microbiome, nutrition and life history adaptations. The project will support student training and mentoring in STEM research, several cross-institutional and international collaborations, community science and conservation outreach. Investigators will focus on Gorilla beringei, as they occupy a unique nutritional niche in an extreme ecology; they live at high altitudes with very limited availability of high-energy food sources (e.g. ripe fruit). As a specialist folivore, they are a useful model for testing the relationship between nutritional development and life history. Project aims will address 1) the nutritional intake and feeding strategies of infant and juvenile mountain gorillas; 2) the dynamics of the gastrointestinal microbiome in infants and juveniles; and 3) the functional contribution of the microbiome as a nutritional strategy.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.