Insights from Comparative Genome Study of Humans and Great Apes on Gut Microbiome Development
A comparative genome study of humans and great apes has provided insight into the development of the gut microbiome, revealing that the microbial colonization of a living organism is highly host-specific and follows the evolution of the host. The study, conducted by scientists from the Collaborative Research Center 1182, compared microbiome data from various great apes with those of humans with rural and urban lifestyles, finding that the species diversity of the human microbiome is reduced in comparison with apes. The research also identified the loss of evolutionarily conserved bacterial groups in humans with urban lifestyles, shedding light on possible functional adaptations of the human microbiome and their implications for disease development.
