Doctoral Dissertation Research: Early Life Adversity and Gut Microbiota Composition

这个博士论文研究项目研究阿尔法男性接管和杀蚁攻击对野生灵长类动物中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力产生负面影响。研究小组调查了肠道微生物群的变化是否是持久的，或者它们是否可以在以后的生活中通过稳定的环境来克服。该项目为STEM领域的第一代研究人员和妇女提供研究经验，并为西班牙裔公立大学的本科生和研究生提供遗传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，有助于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。该项目研究了肠道微生物群的发育如何与生命早期经历的生态和社会压力相关。利用15年来来自极度濒危灵长类动物疣猴野生种群的数据，研究人员调查了：1）不利条件（即，食物可获得性低、母系亲属的丧失、阿尔法男性接管和杀虫剂风险升高）预测婴儿肠道微生物群组成;以及2）这些不利状况（无论是目前经历的还是/或作为婴儿经历的）是否预测幼年期、亚成年期或成年期期间的肠道微生物群。每月的生态数据和每周的人口数据被用来确定食物丰富度，食物竞争，阿尔法男性接管，杀虫剂的风险，以及母亲亲属的存在。肠道微生物群的组成是使用C.来自婴儿和来自具有已知婴儿期病症的较晚年龄生命阶段的个体的vellerosus粪便样品。该项目旨在解决早期生活逆境和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活阶段。该奖项反映了NSF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.