Doctoral Dissertation Research: Shared food sources and microbial transmission in primates and bats

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

Understanding the factors that influence nonhuman primate (NHP) biology and health is essential for human global health efforts because NHPs are models for human evolution, play key roles in global ecosystems, and can transmit diseases to humans. Commensal microbes in the gut play an important role in immunity, and both microbes and microbial genes involved in host defense can be acquired from the environment. Microbes that colonize hosts carrying zoonoses (diseases which can be transmitted to humans) may evolve defenses against these pathogens that can be transmitted to other hosts in the same ecosystem. This doctoral dissertation research project investigates the transmission of commensal microbes (and their genes) between three groups of organisms known to play roles in zoonotic transmission: bats, baboons, and fruits. The results of this study can have important implications for primate health and conservation, scientific understanding of the ecology and evolution of pathogen transmission and immunity, and global health efforts for humans and animals. The project supports K-12 science outreach and undergraduate training and mentoring opportunities in STEM. The ecology of Kinda baboons, a species that often serves as a model system for understanding human evolution, provides a natural experiment for examining microbial transmission. The home range of one habituated Kinda baboon troop overlaps with swamp forest within which 5-10 million straw-colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) roost during their seasonal migration between late October and December. During this roosting period, both Eidolon and Kinda baboons feed on local swamp figs and waterberries. Due to Eidolon’s aerial position during roosting and flight, feces, saliva, and urine are dropped to the ground creating opportunity for exposure to these bodily fluids by Kindas either directly or indirectly via the consumption of contaminated fruits (which may act as vectors). The researchers analyze the gut microbiomes of Kinda baboons and fruit flesh microbiomes before, during, and after the migratory arrival of Eidolon, and assess Eidolon gut microbiomes during their roosting period, to address three specific questions: Q1: Does the migratory arrival of Eidolon into KNP alter Kinda baboon gut and fruit flesh microbiomes? Q2: Does the migratory departure of Eidolon from KNP (January-early February) alter Kinda baboon gut and fruit flesh microbiomes? Q3: Do host evolutionary relationships or the environment better explain Kinda baboon gut microbiome structure during the Eidolon roosting period? Both the variety of microorganisms that comprise the microbiomes of each host as well as the functions of microbial genes utilized by the microbes are assessed. The research team then tests for differences in microbiome taxonomic and functional diversity––as well as differences in microbiome structure––across time, across host species, and across Kinda baboon troops with different proximity to Eidolon. 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.