Doctoral Dissertation Research: Gut microbiome and response to environmental change

胃肠道（肠道）微生物组对宿主的环境非常敏感，有助于调节宿主的生理机能。这项博士论文研究探讨了肠道微生物组如何可能是野生非人类灵长类动物生理适应的重要组成部分。由于肠道微生物组与整个生命过程中健康的许多不同方面有关，因此这项研究的结果可以为肠道微生物如何促进宿主压力和免疫反应提供有价值的见解，以帮助野生灵长类动物科普环境的变化。此外，该项目还探索了肠道微生物组对灵长类动物适应性和进化的影响。在进行论文项目的同时，博士生参加了K-12学生的科学推广活动，并就肠道微生物对人类和动物健康的重要性进行了演讲。博士生还指导本科生在实地考察，实验室和数据分析方法，包括竞争性结合测定和生物信息学管道。这项研究探讨了肠道微生物如何帮助调节野生白面卷尾猴（Cebus imitator）的压力和免疫反应。肠道微生物组对宿主的环境非常敏感;这种灵活性可能有助于宿主调节其生理机能以科普环境的变化。有证据表明，压力和免疫生理学受到肠道微生物组组成的影响，因此，肠道微生物组对宿主环境的灵活性可能对灵长类动物的健康和健身至关重要。白脸卷尾科普资源水平（即食物，水，阴影）的巨大季节性差异，这为监测肠道微生物组，免疫系统和应激生理学响应环境变化的同时变化提供了机会。通过将肠道微生物组采样与非侵入性压力测量相结合，（即粪便糖皮质激素）和免疫健康（即尿新蝶呤），博士生具体评估1）社会和生态环境如何影响卷尾猴肠道微生物组组成，2）肠道微生物组组成如何与应激和免疫反应相关，以及3）肠道微生物组组成以及免疫和应激生理学是否顺序地响应于环境变化。这项研究应该提供深入了解肠道微生物组调节的压力和免疫反应是否是一种进化的机制，帮助灵长类动物应对环境变化。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The gastrointestinal (gut) microbiome is extremely responsive to the host’s environment and helps regulate host physiology. This doctoral dissertation research examines how the gut microbiome is likely an important component of physiological adaption in wild, non-human primates. Because the gut microbiome is tied to many different aspects of health throughout the life course, results from this study can provide valuable insights into how gut microbes facilitate host stress and immune response to help wild primates cope with changes in their environment. In addition, this project explores the impact of the gut microbiome on primate fitness and evolution. While conducting the dissertation project, the doctoral student participates in scientific outreach for K-12 students and gives talks about the importance of gut microbes for human and animal health. The doctoral student also mentors undergraduate students in fieldwork, laboratory, and data analysis methods including competitive binding assays and bioinformatics pipelines. This research investigates how gut microbes help regulate the stress and immune response in wild, white-faced capuchins (Cebus imitator). The gut microbiome is extremely responsive to the host’s environment; this flexibility likely helps the host regulate their physiology to cope with changes in the environment. Evidence suggests stress and immune physiology are affected by gut microbiome composition, therefore, gut microbiome flexibility to the host’s environment is likely crucial for primate health and fitness. White-faced capuchins cope with drastic seasonal differences in resource levels (i.e. food, water, shade) which offers an opportunity to monitor concurrent changes in the gut microbiome, immune system, and stress physiology in response to environmental change. By combining gut microbiome sampling with non-invasive measures of stress (i.e. fecal glucocorticoids) and immune health (i.e. urinary neopterin), the doctoral student specifically evaluates 1) how the social and ecological environment affect capuchin gut microbiome composition, 2) how gut microbiome composition relates to the stress and immune response, and 3) whether gut microbiome composition and immune and stress physiology respond sequentially to environmental change. This research should provide insight into whether gut microbiome regulation of the stress and immune response is an evolved mechanism that helps primates respond to environmental change.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.