Intestivirid Acquisition Increases Across Infancy in a Wild Primate Population

Abstract

Intestivirids (order Crassvirales, family Intestiviridae ), viruses that infect Bacteroidales bacteria in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract, have been identified as a highly abundant component of the healthy human virome that may shape patterns of human health and disease through direct action on the microbiome. While double‐stranded DNA bacteriophages called crAssphages ( Carjivirus communis ) that infect bacteria in the Bacteroidales order have been identified in humans within the first month of life, the enormous variation in post‐parturition infant environments and diets has inhibited a robust understanding of the physiological and environmental factors that govern acquisition patterns. We turned to a wild population of graminivorous nonhuman primates (geladas, Theropithecus gelada ) under long‐term study in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, analysing faecal samples from infants and mothers in this population across the infancy period for richness and presence of crAssphage‐like viruses (family Intestiviridae ). Eight intestivirid genomes were identified based on terminal redundancy representing six unique variants (

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