Evolution of mammals and their gut microbes

Mammals are metagenomic in that they are composed not only of their own gene complements but also those of all of their associated microbes. To understand the co-evolution of the mammals and their indigenous microbial communities, we conducted a network-based analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences from the fecal microbiota of humans and 59 other mammalian species living in two zoos and the wild. The results indicate that host diet and phylogeny both influence bacterial diversity, which increases from carnivory to omnivory to herbivory, that bacterial communities co-diversified with their hosts, and that the gut microbiota of humans living a modern lifestyle is typical of omnivorous primates.