New research reveals that animal gut microbes shape variations in species biology and can influence evolution, including brain size.
For years, scientists have been trying to discover what factors allowed the mammalian brain to develop so much. Now, research from Northwestern University suggests that gut microbes may play an important role in this growth.
this Monday in the scientific journal Microbial Genomics, the study involved a controlled laboratory experiment. In it, researchers implanted microbes from two species of primates with large brains (human and squirrel monkey) and a species of primate with small brains (monkey) in mice.
The findings revealed that mice with microbes from large-brained primate species produced and used more energywhile those with microbes from small-brained species stored more energy in the form of fat.
The research was pioneering in demonstrating that animal gut microbes shape variations in species biology. This fact reinforces the hypothesis that intestinal microbes can influence the evolutionby altering the functioning of an animal’s body.
In this case, changes in the microbiota provided a greater supply of energy, which possibly resulted in large brains like those of some species that exist today, including humans.
