The gut microbiota distinguishes GI-healthy and -unhealthy captive colobineprimates

Despite concerted efforts to improve the conservation status of Asian primates,conditions in their natural habitats continue to worsen. As a result, captive breeding programs may become increasingly important to ensure species survival. Nevertheless, maintaining healthy captive populations of Asian primates can be difficult, particularly for primates of the Colobinae subfamily that commonly suffer from morbidity and mortality due to gastrointestinal (GI) distress of unknown cause. While there is speculation that this GI distress may be associated with a dysbiosis of the gut microbiota, no study has directly examined the role of the gut microbiota in colobine GI health.

尽管科研人员已付出诸多协同努力以改善亚洲灵长类动物的保护现状，但其自然栖息环境仍持续恶化。为此，圈养繁殖计划或对保障物种存续愈发关键。然而，维持健康的亚洲灵长类圈养种群颇具挑战，尤其是疣猴亚科（Colobinae）物种——这类动物常因病因不明的胃肠道（GI）不适出现较高的发病率与死亡率。尽管有推测认为此类胃肠道不适或与肠道微生物群（gut microbiota）失调相关，但目前尚无研究直接探究肠道微生物群在疣猴类胃肠道健康中的作用。