Brain tissue is among the most energetically costly in the body, and as a result, larger-brained mammals require more energy to support brain growth and maintenance. Exactly which biological changes allowed human ancestors to meet the very high needs for energy as they evolved larger brains has remained unclear.
A new study points to the role of gut microbes, tiny living organisms in our digestive system that help break down food and produce energy.
Their findings showed the mice with microbes from large-brain primate species produced and used more energy, while those with microbes from the small-brain species stored more energy as fat. "We know the community of microbes living in the large intestine can produce compounds that affect aspects of human biology -- for example, causing changes to metabolism that can lead to insulin resistance and weight gain," said the study's first author Katherine Amato, associate professor of anthropology at Northwestern.
The researchers expected to find microbes from different primates would lead to differences in the biology of the mice inoculated with them. They also expected mice with human microbes to have the greatest difference in biology from mice with microbes from the other two species. "These findings suggest that when humans and squirrel monkeys both separately evolved larger brains, their microbial communities changed in similar ways to help provide the necessary energy," Amato said.
Gastrointestinal Problems Brain Tumor Brain-Computer Interfaces Psychology Intelligence Mice Biology Monkeys
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