You are what you eat , or so the expression go . But it seems that the bacteria in our gut have a much recollective history than anyone could have imagined , as it has been revealed that they have been evolve in step with us since our last common antecedent with gorillas , some 10 million years ago .
To look into the differences of the intestine bacteria between four ape species , the team acquired fecal samples from wild primates hold up across Africa : Pan troglodytes in Tanzania , bonobos in the Democratic Republic of Congo , gorilla from Cameroon , and humans in Connecticut . They then seem at three group of bacteria and run genetic test on them , looking specifically at the gyrase type B gene .
The researchers found , to their surprisal , that the evolution of the two major families of bacteria found in the gut of all African apes , including in our own , absolutely matches the evolutionary story of their hosts . The bowel bacteria of the transmissible African ape followed the succession of evolution known to have occur , where first the group that contribute to gorillas split from our last common ancestor , followed by the lineage that gave rise to us , leaving the chimpanzee and bonobo split until last .
This was not what they expected , and is not how the development of gut bacteria is mostly assumed to have occurred . It is commonly think that the bacterium that hold up in us are more probable to be determined by international factor , such as the environment in which we live on , our dieting , and even the medicine we consume , but instead , it seems , they reflect our evolutionary past . The researchers were surprised to find that the gut bug that can enter us from many disjoined sources had continued to evolve in dance step with us over millions of years , being passed down through hundreds , if not thousands of generations .
“ We are demonstrate that some human intestine bacteria are the direct descendant of gut bacteria that live within our coarse ancestor with apes , ” say Andrew Moeller , lead researcher of the study write inScience , in astatement . “ It shew there has been an unplowed line of inheritance or transfer from one generation to another for millions of eld , since the sunrise of African ape . ”
The team now plan on extend their study further , looking not only at prelate , but getting samples from all major groups of mammals . They hope to name if – as now seems likely – all mammalian have develop their gut bacterium from a single common antecedent .
