Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42094537›Full record

ArticlebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2026

Social microbiome transmission predicts microbial specialization and host lifespan in a wild primate.

Reena Debray, Caroline C Dickson, Shasta E Webb, Pamela Ferretti, Alex Meloimet, Jack Gilbert, Susan C Alberts, Ran Blekhman, Elizabeth A Archie, Jenny Tung

Abstract readPreprint
In one paragraph

Article in bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

10 authors.

Reena DebrayDepartment of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, SN, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-8130-4871
Caroline C DicksonDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, USA.
Shasta E WebbDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9329-2553
Pamela FerrettiSection of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1707-9013
Alex MeloimetAmboseli Baboon Research Project, Amboseli, Kenya.
Jack GilbertDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California - San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-7920-7001
Susan C AlbertsDepartment of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1313-488X
Ran BlekhmanSection of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3218-613X
Elizabeth A ArchieDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1187-0998
Jenny TungDepartment of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, SN, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-0416-2958

Funding

Population Genomics of Host-Microbiome InteractionsR35GM128716 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI Ran Blekhman · 2018 to 2026
$3.5M
A life course perspective on gut microbiome aging and health in a non-human primate modelR01AG071684 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME · PI ARCHIE, ELIZABETH · 2021 to 2025
$3.2M
Gene regulation and social relationships across the life course in a nonhuman primate modelR01AG075914 · NIA · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI ALBERTS, SUSAN C. · 2021 to 2025
$2.6M
Developing insertable cardiac monitors to assess social and environmental effects on the autonomic stress response in a nonhuman primate model of agingR61AG078470 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME · PI ARCHIE, ELIZABETH · 2022 to 2023
$607k
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG071684NIA NIH HHS R01 AG075914NIA NIH HHS R61 AG078470NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM128716
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Social interactions are proposed to provide reliable routes for microbial transmission between animals, facilitating animal-microbiome co-evolution. However, microbiome transmission remains challenging to measure in wild populations. Here we combine behavioral observations of wild baboons with repeated strain-resolved metagenomic profiling to identify individual gut microbial species that follow a dominant mode of social transmission. In an 18-year metagenomic time series from the same population, baboons with higher levels of socially transmitted species lived longer than those with lower levels of socially transmitted species. Socially transmitted species were also more stable and persistent within baboons, yet had narrower host ranges outside of baboons. Thus, social transmission is not only detectable in free-living primates, but may play a special role in both host and microbial fitness.

Identifiers

PMID42094537
PMCPMC13142315

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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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 OpenQuestion graph.