Project Details
Projekt
Composition, Ecology and Natural History of the Great Ape Mycobiome
Applicant
Professor Dr. Hjalmar Kuehl
Subject Area
Evolution, Anthropology
Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology
Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology
Term
since 2022
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 496691758
It has been hypothesized that diverse health problems in humans are influenced by gut microbiome composition and relate to changes relative to the ancestral or more broadly, the hominid microbiome. A major gap in our understanding relates to the portion of the microbiome made up of fungi, the mycobiome. The study of the fungi in the guts of wild African apes would greatly clarify our understanding of the hominid mycobiome, the modern ape mycobiome, and the role primates play in the ecology of wild yeasts. Here we take advantage of a unique set of 5397 fecal samples of chimpanzees we collected from across Africa at 47 locations, complemented with a smaller set of samples for bonobos and gorillas. Importantly, previous work on population genetic structure, behavioral diversity and bacterial microbiome and eukaryotic parasites, along with diverse ecological data (e.g. diet, habitat) provide rich context information for integration with the ape mycobiome. With the proposed project we would like to (1) conduct a comparative study of human and ape mycobiomes, (2) study the geographic and taxonomic variation in ape gut mycobiomes, (3) relate variation in mycobiome composition to differences in diet, (4) assess the functional genetic potential of dominant mycobiome taxa in order to distinguish host- and diet-associated fungi. 2350 fecal DNA extracts (1950 chimpanzee, 300 gorilla and 100 bonobo extracts) will be selected. All samples will undergo amplicon sequencing of the ITS2 region, the chimpanzee samples will also be analysed for the LSU D1/D2 region as a more resolving complement for yeasts. A subset of samples with a high relative abundance of fungal sequences (~250 based on preliminary analyses) will be subjected to deep metagenomic sequencing. The proposed synthesis is unique and will put the ape fungal information into ecological, evolutionary and anthropological context.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
