Browsing by Author "Clayton, Jonathan"
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Item Associations Between Nutrition, Gut Microbial Communities, and Health in Nonhuman Primates(2015-12) Clayton, JonathanThe primate gastrointestinal (GI) tract is home to trillions of bacteria that play major roles in digestion and metabolism, immune system development, and pathogen resistance, among other important aspects of host health and behavior. In 2009, the Human Microbiome Project was established with the goal of better understanding the role microbial communities play in health and disease. While the research community has made substantial progress in understanding the role microbial communities play in human health and disease, much less attention has been given to host-associated microbiomes in nonhuman primates (NHPs). My research is focused on developing a better understanding of the link between primate microbial communities and the establishment and maintenance of health. I have begun exploring host-associated microbiomes in NHPs, including red-shanked doucs (Pygathrix nemaeus) and mantled howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata), among other species. Some primate species, such as the red-shanked douc, fail to thrive in captivity due to health issues (e.g., gastrointestinal disease). Maintenance of many primate species in captive settings is hindered by critical gaps in our understanding of their natural diet and the enteric microbial adaptations that facilitate the digestive process. By comparing wild and captive animals within the same species, I hope to determine whether shifts in gut microbiota are linked with health in captivity. Microbes can act as indicators for health of the host, thus broad primate microbiome surveys may allow for the development of predictive biomarkers to improve nonhuman primate health and management.Item Data from "Diverse Bacterial Communities Exist on Canine Skin and are Impacted by Cohabitation and Time"(2016-11-17) Johnson, Timothy; Torres, Sheila; Danzeisen, Jessica; Clayton, Jonathan; Ward, Tonya; Knights, Dan; Huang, Hu; joh04207@umn.edu; Johnson, TimothyThis related study sampled 40 dogs from 20 households over the course of three seasons. Three skin sites were examined. The goal of the study was to determine if a core skin microbiome exists in dogs across time and body site, and if cohabitation impacts sharing of the skin microbiome. This dataset is a part of the Torres_Johnson Canine Microbiome Study.Item Relationships between cecum, ileum and litter bacterial microbiomes in a commercial turkey flock, and the impact of penicillin treatment on early bacterial community establishment(2015-10-19) Danzeisen, Jessica; Clayton, Jonathan; Huang, Hu; Knights, Dan; McComb, Brian; Hayer, Shivdeep; Johnson, Timothy; joh04207@umn.edu; Johnson, TimothyGut health is paramount for commercial poultry production, and methods to assess gut health are critically needed to better understand how the avian gastrointestinal tract matures over time. One important aspect of gut health is the totality of bacterial populations inhabiting different sites of the avian gastrointestinal tract, and associations of these populations with the poultry farm environment, since these bacteria are thought to drive metabolism and prime the host immune system. In this study, a single flock of commercial turkeys was followed over the course of twelve weeks to examine bacterial microbiome inhabiting the ceca, ileum, and corresponding poultry litter. Furthermore, the effects of low-dose, growth-promoting penicillin treatment (50 g/ton) in feed on the ileum bacterial microbiome were also examined during the early brood period. The cecum and ileum bacterial communities of birds shifted independently but in parallel to one another over time, with distinct bacterial populations harboring each site. Corresponding poultry litter more closely represented the ileal bacterial populations than cecal bacterial populations, and also changed parallel to ileum bacterial populations over time. Penicillin applied at low doses in feed significantly enhanced early weight gain in commercial poults, and this correlated with predictable shifts in the ileum bacterial populations in control versus treatment groups. Overall, this study demonstrates the dynamic shifts in the turkey gastrointestinal microbiome during development, the correlations between bacterial populations in the gastrointestinal tract and the litter environment, and the impact of low-dose penicillin on the modulation of bacterial communities in the ileum. Alternatives to low-dose antibiotics would benefit by mimicking these effects in the gut, among others.Item Wild Primate Gut Microbiota Protect Against Obesity(2017-04) Sidiropoulos, Dimitrios, N; Clayton, Jonathan; Al-Ghalith, Gabe; Shields-Cutler, Robin; Ward, Tonya; Blekhman, Ran; Kashyap, Purna; Knights, DanThe gastrointestinal tract hosts trillions of bacteria that play major roles in metabolism, immune system development, and pathogen resistance. Although there is increasing evidence that low dietary fiber in Westernized societies is associated with dramatic loss of natural human gut microbiome diversity, the role of this loss in obesity and inflammation is not well understood. Non-human primates (NHPs) can be used as model systems for studying the effects of diet and lifestyle disruption on the human gut microbiome. Captive primates are typically exposed to low-fiber diets and tend to have human-associated microbiota in place of their native microbiota. In order to explore interactions between the gut microbiota and dietary fiber, we transplanted captive and wild primate gut microbiota into germ-free mice and then exposed them to either a high- or low-fiber diet. We found that the group receiving low-fiber diet and captive primate microbiota became obese and had high levels of circulating inflammatory cytokines, while mice receiving high-fiber diet and wild primate microbiota remained healthy. Mice with the wild primate microbiota and low-fiber diet acquired intermediate levels of obesity, demonstrating an interaction between dietary fiber and the microbiota. These results show that the modern human gut microbiome interacts with low-fiber diets to cause inflammation and obesity, and suggest a possible clinical role for manipulation of the microbiota in the treatment of obesity.