Amato Katherine R, Leigh Steven R, Kent Angela, Mackie Roderick I, Yeoman Carl J, Stumpf Rebecca M, Wilson Brenda A, Nelson Karen E, White Bryan A, Garber Paul A
Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61801; Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2014 Dec;155(4):652-64. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.22621. Epub 2014 Sep 23.
In all mammals, growth, development, pregnancy, and lactation increase nutritional demands. Although primate field studies tend to focus on shifts in activity and diet as mechanisms to compensate for these demands, differences in digestive efficiency also are likely to be important. Because the gut microbiota can impact host digestive efficiency, we examined differences in activity budget, diet, and the gut microbial community among adult male (N = 4), adult female (N = 4), and juvenile (N = 5) wild black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) across a ten-month period in Palenque National Park, Mexico to determine how adult females and juveniles compensate for increased nutritional demands. Results indicate that adult females and juveniles consumed more protein and energy than adult males. Adult males, adult females, and juveniles also possessed distinct gut microbial communities, unrelated to diet. Juveniles exhibited a gut microbiota characterized by bacteria from the phylum Firmicutes, such as Roseburia and Ruminococcus, and demonstrated high fecal volatile fatty acid content, suggesting increased microbial contributions to host energy balances. Adult females possessed a higher Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio, also suggesting increased energy production, and their gut microbiota was characterized by Lactococcus, which has been associated with folate biosynthesis. On the basis of these patterns, it appears that the gut microbiota differentially contributes to howler monkey nutrition during reproduction and growth. Determining the nutritional and energetic importance of shifts in activity, diet, and the gut microbiota in other nonhuman primate taxa, as well as humans, will transform our understanding of these life history processes and the role of host-microbe relationships in primate evolution.
在所有哺乳动物中，生长、发育、怀孕和哺乳都会增加营养需求。尽管灵长类动物的野外研究往往侧重于将活动和饮食的变化作为补偿这些需求的机制，但消化效率的差异可能也很重要。由于肠道微生物群会影响宿主的消化效率，我们在墨西哥帕伦克国家公园对成年雄性（N = 4）、成年雌性（N = 4）和幼年（N = 5）野生黑吼猴（Alouatta pigra）进行了为期十个月的研究，考察了它们在活动预算、饮食和肠道微生物群落方面的差异，以确定成年雌性和幼年吼猴如何补偿增加的营养需求。结果表明，成年雌性和幼年吼猴比成年雄性消耗了更多的蛋白质和能量。成年雄性、成年雌性和幼年吼猴也拥有不同的肠道微生物群落，且与饮食无关。幼年吼猴的肠道微生物群以厚壁菌门的细菌为特征，如罗斯氏菌属和瘤胃球菌属，并且粪便挥发性脂肪酸含量较高，这表明微生物对宿主能量平衡的贡献增加。成年雌性的厚壁菌门与拟杆菌门的比例更高，这也表明能量产生增加，其肠道微生物群以乳酸球菌为特征，乳酸球菌与叶酸生物合成有关。基于这些模式，肠道微生物群似乎在吼猴繁殖和生长期间对其营养有不同的贡献。确定活动、饮食和肠道微生物群的变化在其他非人类灵长类动物分类群以及人类中的营养和能量重要性，将改变我们对这些生命史过程以及宿主 - 微生物关系在灵长类动物进化中的作用的理解。
