Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39620695›Full record

ArticleMicrobial genomics2024

The primate gut microbiota contributes to interspecific differences in host metabolism.

Elizabeth K Mallott, Sahana Kuthyar, Won Lee, Derek Reiman, Hongmei Jiang, Sriram Chitta, E Alexandria Waters, Brian T Layden, Ronen Sumagin, Laura D Manzanares and 10 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Microbial genomics, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. The effects ofFrontiers in nutrition · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Primate gut microbiota induce evolutionarily salient changes in mouse neurodevelopment.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

20 authors.

Elizabeth K MallottDepartment of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Sahana KuthyarDepartment of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Won LeeDepartment of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
Derek ReimanDepartment of Bioengineering, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA.
Hongmei JiangDepartment of Statistics and Data Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Sriram ChittaDepartment of Comparative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX, USA.
E Alexandria WatersCenter for Advanced Molecular Imaging, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Brian T LaydenDepartment of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA.
Ronen SumaginDepartment of Pathology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Laura D ManzanaresDepartment of Pathology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Guan-Yu YangDepartment of Pathology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Maria Luisa Savo SardaroDepartment of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Stanton GrayDepartment of Comparative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX, USA.
Lawrence E WilliamsDepartment of Comparative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX, USA.
Yang DaiDepartment of Bioengineering, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA.
James P CurleyDepartment of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
Chad R HaneyCenter for Advanced Molecular Imaging, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Emma R LiechtyCenter for Comparative Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Christopher W KuzawaDepartment of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Katherine R AmatoDepartment of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.

Funding

Acquisition of a Q-Exactive HF Mass SpectrometerS10OD027016 · OD · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · PI COLOGNA, STEPHANIE M · 2019 to 2019
$600k
NIH HHS S10 OD027016
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Because large brains are energetically expensive, they are associated with metabolic traits that facilitate energy availability across vertebrates. However, the biological underpinnings driving these traits are not known. Given its role in regulating host metabolism in disease studies, we hypothesized that the gut microbiome contributes to variation in normal cross-vertebrate species differences in metabolism, including those associated with the brain's energetic requirements. By inoculating germ-free mice with the gut microbiota (GM) of three primate species - two with relatively larger brains and one with a smaller brain - we demonstrated that the GM of larger-brained primates shifts host metabolism towards energy use and production, while that of smaller-brained primates stimulates energy storage in adipose tissues. Our findings establish a causal role of the GM in normal cross-host species differences in metabolism associated with relative brain size and suggest that the GM may have been an important facilitator of metabolic changes during human evolution that supported encephalization.

Indexed as

BrainGastrointestinal MicrobiomePrimatesAdipose TissueAnimalsEnergy MetabolismHumansMiceSpecies Specificityencephalizationgluconeogenesislife historyphysiologyshort-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)

Identifiers

PMID39620695
PMCPMC11893272

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.