Xia Mengyi, Xia Yingna, Sun Yu, Wang Jingjing, Lu Jiakai, Wang Xi, Xia Dongpo, Xu Xiaojuan, Sun Binghua
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei, China.
International Collaborative Research Center for Huangshan Biodiversity and Tibetan Macaque Behavioral Ecology, Anhui University, Hefei, China.
Front Microbiol. 2024 Apr 22;15:1381372. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1381372. eCollection 2024.
Recent studies have emphasized that there is a strong link between the gut microbiome and the brain that affects social behavior and personality in animals. However, the interface between personality and the gut microbiome in wild primates remains poorly understood. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing and ethological methods in primate behavioral ecology to investigate the relationship between gut microbiome and personality in Tibetan macaques (). The behavioral assessment results indicated three personality dimensions including socialization, shyness, and anxiety. There was significant variation in alpha diversity only for shyness, with a significantly lower alpha diversity indices (including Shannon, Chao1, and PD) for bold individuals than for shy individuals. Using regression models to control for possible confounding factors, we found that the relative abundance of three genera, , , and , was significantly and positively correlated with the sociability scores in the macaques. In addition, Oscillospiraceae exhibited a positive correlation with scores for Shy Dimension. Furthermore, we found that the predicted functional genes for propionate and pyruvate, porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolic pathways related to animal behavior, were significant enriched in shyness group. We propose that the gut microbiome may play an important role in the formation of personality of Tibetan macaques.
最近的研究强调，肠道微生物群与大脑之间存在紧密联系，这种联系会影响动物的社会行为和性格。然而，野生灵长类动物的性格与肠道微生物群之间的关系仍知之甚少。在此，我们运用灵长类行为生态学中的高通量测序和行为学方法，来研究藏猕猴肠道微生物群与性格之间的关系。行为评估结果表明存在三个性格维度，包括社交性、羞怯和焦虑。仅羞怯维度的α多样性存在显著差异，大胆个体的α多样性指数（包括香农指数、蔡氏指数和系统发育多样性指数）显著低于羞怯个体。通过回归模型控制可能的混杂因素，我们发现三个属（此处原文缺失具体属名）的相对丰度与猕猴的社交性得分显著正相关。此外，颤螺旋菌科与羞怯维度得分呈正相关。再者，我们发现与动物行为相关的丙酸和丙酮酸、卟啉和叶绿素代谢途径的预测功能基因在羞怯组中显著富集。我们认为肠道微生物群可能在藏猕猴性格形成中发挥重要作用。
