Moeller Andrew H, Peeters Martine, Ayouba Ahidjo, Ngole Eitel Mpoudi, Esteban Amadine, Hahn Beatrice H, Ochman Howard
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.
Mol Ecol. 2015 Feb;24(3):690-7. doi: 10.1111/mec.13057. Epub 2015 Jan 19.
Simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) have been discovered in over 45 primate species; however, the pathogenic potential of most SIV strains remains unknown due to difficulties inherent in observing wild populations. Because those SIV infections that are pathogenic have been shown to induce changes in the host's gut microbiome, monitoring the microbiota present in faecal samples can provide a noninvasive means for studying the effects of SIV infection on the health of wild-living primates. Here, we examine the effects of SIVgor, a close relative of SIVcpz of chimpanzees and HIV-1 of humans, on the gut bacterial communities residing within wild gorillas, revealing that gorilla gut microbiomes are exceptionally robust to SIV infection. In contrast to the microbiomes of HIV-1-infected humans and SIVcpz-infected chimpanzees, SIVgor-infected gorilla microbiomes exhibit neither rises in the frequencies of opportunistic pathogens nor elevated rates of microbial turnover within individual hosts. Regardless of SIV infection status, gorilla microbiomes assort into enterotypes, one of which is compositionally analogous to those identified in humans and chimpanzees. The other gorilla enterotype appears specialized for a leaf-based diet and is enriched in environmentally derived bacterial genera. We hypothesize that the acquisition of this gorilla-specific enterotype was enabled by lowered immune system control over the composition of the microbiome. Our results indicate differences between the pathology of SIVgor and SIVcpz/HIV-1 infections, demonstrating the utility of investigating host microbial ecology as a means for studying disease in wild primates of high conservation priority.
在超过45种灵长类动物中发现了猴免疫缺陷病毒（SIVs）；然而，由于观察野生种群存在固有的困难，大多数SIV毒株的致病潜力仍然未知。由于已证明致病性的SIV感染会诱导宿主肠道微生物群的变化，监测粪便样本中的微生物群可以提供一种非侵入性手段，用于研究SIV感染对野生灵长类动物健康的影响。在这里，我们研究了SIVgor（黑猩猩的SIVcpz和人类的HIV-1的近亲）对野生大猩猩体内肠道细菌群落的影响，发现大猩猩肠道微生物群对SIV感染具有极强的抵抗力。与感染HIV-1的人类和感染SIVcpz的黑猩猩的微生物群不同，感染SIVgor的大猩猩微生物群既没有机会性病原体频率的上升，也没有个体宿主体内微生物更替率的提高。无论SIV感染状态如何，大猩猩微生物群都可分为不同的肠型，其中一种在组成上与在人类和黑猩猩中发现的肠型相似。另一种大猩猩肠型似乎专门适应以树叶为主的饮食，并且富含环境来源的细菌属。我们假设，这种大猩猩特有的肠型的获得是由于免疫系统对微生物群组成的控制降低所致。我们的结果表明SIVgor与SIVcpz/HIV-1感染的病理学之间存在差异，证明了研究宿主微生物生态学作为研究具有高度保护优先级的野生灵长类动物疾病的一种手段的实用性。
