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Updated: May 16, 2026
06:23
Applying Advanced In Vitro Culturing Technology to Study the Human Gut Microbiota
Published on: February 15, 2019
Chimpanzees and humans harbour compositionally similar gut enterotypes
Andrew H Moeller1, Patrick H Degnan, Anne E Pusey
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.
Nature Communications
|November 15, 2012
Summary
Chimpanzee gut microbes form distinct community structures, or enterotypes, similar to humans. These enterotypes are stable long-term but individuals can switch between them over time.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Genomics
- Evolutionary Biology
Background:
- The human gut microbiota exhibits enterotypes, defined by dominant bacterial genera.
- Understanding the evolutionary origins of these microbial communities is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether chimpanzee gut microbiota also exhibit enterotypes.
- To compare chimpanzee enterotypes with those found in humans.
- To explore the stability and dynamics of chimpanzee enterotypes over time.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of fecal microbial communities from chimpanzees.
- Application of enterotype clustering algorithms.
- Longitudinal sampling and analysis of microbial community structure.
Main Results:
- Chimpanzee gut microbiota assort into enterotypes analogous to human enterotypes.
- Microbial signatures within enterotypes are stable over extended periods.
- Individual chimpanzees demonstrated shifts between enterotypes over a year.
Conclusions:
- Enterotypic variation in the gut microbiota predates the human-chimpanzee divergence.
- Chimpanzee enterotypes provide a model for understanding the evolution of the human gut microbiome.
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