The PanAf has a new paper out examing the microbiomes of chimpanzees across their range!
tl;dr: Genetics/geography are correlated with prokaryotic and parasite community dissimilarity. When controlling for these, vegetation also has an influence on prokaryotic community composition.
We also found some site-specific differences in prokaryote community composition (though not in Western chimps).
We discuss how regional tool use for resource extraction might be influencing site-specific differences & compare the patterns observed in chimps to those in humans.
Citation:
Bueno de Mesquita CP, Nichols LM, Gebert MJ, Vanderburgh C, Bocksberger G, Lester JD, Kalan AK, Dieguez P, McCarthy MS, Agbor A, Álvarez Varona P, Ayimisin AE, Bessone M, Chancellor R, Cohen H, Coupland C, Deschner T, Egbe VE, Goedmakers A, Granjon A-C, Grueter CC, Head J, Hernandez-Aguilar RA, Jeffery KJ, Jones S, Kadam P, Kaiser M, Lapuente J, Larson B, Marrocoli S, Morgan D, Mugerwa B, Mulindahabi F, Neil E, Niyigaba P, Pacheco L, Piel AK, Robbins MM, Rundus A, Sanz CM, Sciaky L, Sheil D, Sommer V, Stewart FA, Ton E, van Schijndel J, Vergnes V, Wessling EG, Wittig RM, Ginath YY, Yurkiw K, Zuberbühler K, Gogarten JF, Heintz-Buschart A, Muellner-Riehl AN, Boesch C, Kühl HS, Fierer N, Arandjelovic M*, Dunn RR* (2021) Structure of Chimpanzee Gut Microbiomes across Tropical Africa. Msystems doi: 10.1128/msystems.01269-20
