Comparative Study of Captive Great Ape and Human Intestinal Microbiomes

The SHAPES-Captivity study seeks to identify metagenomic components of the intestinal microbiome shared by human beings and captive great apes living in proximity and in direct, daily contact. The SHAPES-Captivity is an extension of the SHAPES study (financed by the ANR in 2014), currently ongoing in central Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gabon). In Cameroon, the investigators have collected stool samples from gorillas, chimpanzees and human beings using the same forest space so as to conduct an analysis of the overlap of their intestinal microbiome. The results of this analysis will be interpreted in light of anthropological and geographical evidence collected among people living in this region. SHAPES-Captivity will enable the investigators to use the same approach but this time, under conditions of great ape captivity. The investigators will thus obtain data concerning intestinal microbiome overlap between captive great apes and human caretakers working in a controlled environment and in daily, direct contact. The SHAPES-Captivity study will provide a positive control, which will eventually be compared to results from the SHAPES study. Although multiple studies have investigated the overlap between human-great ape intestinal microbiome (Moeller et al. 2012 ; Moeller et al. 2016), none of these studies have investigated people living in close proximity to great apes, either in a natural or captive setting. The investigators will determine the phylogenetic diversity of enterotypes (bacterial and viral) shared between human beings and great apes, and will link these results with their participant-observations of caretakers' activities (and contacts) with these great apes.