Abstract
BackgroundThe human gut microbiota interacts closely with human diet and physiology. To better understand the mechanisms behind this relationship, gut microbiome research relies on complementing human studies with manipulations of animal models, including non-human primates. However, due to unique aspects of human diet and physiology, it is likely that host-gut microbe interactions operate differently in humans and non-human primates.ResultsHere, we show that the human microbiome reacts differently to a high-protein, high-fat Western diet than that of a model primate, the African green monkey, or vervet (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus). Specifically, humans exhibit increased relative abundance of Firmicutes and reduced relative abundance of Prevotella on a Western diet while vervets show the opposite pattern. Predictive metagenomics demonstrate an increased relative abundance of genes associated with carbohydrate metabolism in the microbiome of only humans consuming a Western diet.ConclusionsThese results suggest that the human gut microbiota has unique properties that are a result of changes in human diet and physiology across evolution or that may have contributed to the evolution of human physiology. Therefore, the role of animal models for understanding the relationship between the human gut microbiota and host metabolism must be re-focused.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40168-015-0120-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The human gut microbiota interacts closely with human diet and physiology
Vervets Results show that vervets fed a typical Western diet (TWD, see Methods for composition) had similar gut microbial richness compared to wild vervets consuming a non-Western diet (Fig. 1), the composition of their gut microbiota was distinct
K00432, a glutathione peroxidase, which is associated with lipid and amino acid metabolism, was present at higher relative abundances in vervets consuming a typical Western human diet (TWD) than wild vervets (Additional file 1: Table S6)
Summary
The human gut microbiota interacts closely with human diet and physiology. To better understand the mechanisms behind this relationship, gut microbiome research relies on complementing human studies with manipulations of animal models, including non-human primates. Due to unique aspects of human diet and physiology, it is likely that host-gut microbe interactions operate differently in humans and non-human primates. A common theme in human gut microbiome research currently is the effect of diet on gut microbiota composition, and host physiology [1]. As data describing patterns in the human gut microbiota accumulate, researchers are beginning to turn toward animal models to test the mechanisms driving host-gut microbe interactions and their physiological consequences. A recent study examined the impact of a high-fat diet on the gut microbiota of adult female macaques and their offspring [12]
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