The types of gut bacteria that populate the guts of primates depend on the species of the host as well as where the host lives and what they eat. A study led by Howard Ochman at Yale University examines the gut microbial communities in great apes, showing that a host's species, rather than their diet, has the greatest effect on gut bacteria diversity. These findings will publish next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology.
"Bacteria are crucial to human health. They enhance the immune system, protect against toxins, and assist in the maturation and renewal of intestinal cells," says Ochman. Gut microbes outnumber our own cells by 10 to 1 but little is known about how certain species come to populate our stomachs, which are sterile at birth. What causes this variation within microbial communities has been a matter of debate. Some scientists have argued that diet and habitat play the most prominent roles. However, Ochman and colleagues found that diversity in the composition of these gut communities, not including those occasional transients and unwelcome visitors such as pathogenic bacteria, depends primarily upon the host species.
Using genetic markers, the team measured the diversity and abundance of various microbial species found in fecal matter of five great ape species collected in their native ranges and discovered that bacterial populations assorted to species. Moreover, the relationships of the microbial communities matched that of their host. In other words, not only is it possible to differentiate chimpanzees from humans by examining the microbial populations within their guts, but these gut microbes have been tracking the evolution of their hosts for millions of years.
Funding: This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants GM56120 and GM74735 to HO; AI065371 to MW; and AI50529, AI58715, and AI27767 to BHH. This was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy's Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research Program, and by the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory contract number DE-AC52-07NA27344, and Los Alamos National Laboratory under contract number DE-AC02-06NA25396. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests statement: The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Ochman H, Worobey M, Kuo C-H, Ndjango J-BN, Peeters M, et al. (2010) Evolutionary Relationships of Wild Hominids Recapitulated by Gut Microbial Communities. PLoS Biol 8(11): e1000546. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000546
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CONTACT:
William Hathaway
Associate Director, Medicine & Science
Yale University
Office of Public Affairs
Tel: 203-432-1322
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E-mail: william.hathaway@yale.edu
Prof. Howard Ochman
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Director, Microbial Diversity Institute Yale University
Tel: 203-737-3088
Fax: 203-737-3109
Email: howard.ochman@yale.edu
Journal
PLoS Biology