PhD: Gut Microbiomes in Wild Mammals

Ecological, evolutionary, and behavioral determinants of gut microbiomes in Malagasy mammals

Advisor: Lauren Ancel Meyers (UT-Austin) ; Collaborators: Rebecca Lewis (UT-Austin) , Anthony Di Fiore (UT-Austin)

Mammalian gut microbial communities govern host development, metabolism, immune function, and physiology, through interactions that range from commensal or mutualistic to pathogenic. However, the relative contributions of vertical, horizontal, and environmental transmission to gut microbiome composition are not well understood. For my dissertation research, I integrated field-collected data, molecular analyses, and computational and statistical modeling to study how social networks and proximity to other host species influence the gut microbial communities of wild mammals inhabiting Kirindy Mitea National Park in western Madagascar. This research was conducted as part of The Sifaka Research Project , a long-term research study led by Dr. Rebecca Lewis (UT-Austin) .

Key findings:

• In a single season, the gut microbiomes of wild Verreaux’s sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) clearly reflect their social group membership, and both grooming and scent-marking behaviors promote microbial exchange and within-host diversity (Perofsky et al. 2017 Proc. R. Soc. B. ).
• Sifaka social groups harbor distinct gut microbial communities over the course of several years, and compositional changes in the microbiota of individual animals are influenced by the gain or loss of unique social partners and male dispersal between groups (Perofsky et al. 2021 Mol. Ecol. ).
• The ecological relationships among mammalian gut microbiomes mirror their hosts’ phylogeny. However, the predicted functionality of lemur microbiomes differentiate according to diet, and distantly-related terrestrial mammals have overlapping microbial communities, suggesting that ground dwelling facilitates the indirect horizontal transmission of gut bacteria among sympatric wild mammals (Perofsky et al. 2018 ISMEJ ).

Together, these findings demonstrate that patterns of gut microbiome composition in wild mammals are scale-dependent: host phylogeny, diet, and substrate use shape microbial variation among sympatric mammal taxa, while social groupings and social contacts constrain the horizontal transmission of gut bacteria within a single host population.

Predoctoral Research

I graduated from the University of Georgia in 2009 with degrees in Biology and Ecology. My undergraduate research focused on salamander ecology and population modeling (Maerz Lab, UGA ). In Fall 2009, I worked as a research assistant in Andrew Park’s Lab (UGA) , studying environmental drivers of hemorrhagic disease virus outbreaks in white-tailed deer. During 2010-2011, I completed an NIH Postbaccalaureate IRTA fellowship , where I characterized viral infection profiles of Sjögren’s Syndrome patients (Adeno-Associated Virus Biology Section, NIDCR ).