EDUCATION .
Ph.D. Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology. University of Illinois, Urbana, IL.
B.A. Biology. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.

 CONTACT .
Email: katherine.amato(at)northwestern.edu
Phone: 847-467-5890
Office: 1810 Hinman Ave., Rm A 62.

 

 RESEARCH INTERESTS .

My research focuses on the dynamics between mutualistic gut microbial communities and their hosts. I am particularly interested in understanding how changes in the gut microbiota impact human nutrition and health in populations around the world, especially those with limited access to nutritional resources. I also use non-human primates as models for studying host-gut microbe interactions in selective environments and to determine whether the human gut microbiota has characteristics that are unique among primates. My current research focuses on microbial contributions to host nutrition during periods of reduced food availability (e.g. seasonality) or increased nutritional demands (e.g. pregnancy), as well as microbial influences on brain growth. To date, most of my fieldwork has been with non-human primates in southeastern Mexico, but I am currently establishing projects with both humans and non-human primates in other parts of the world. For more information please see my personal website.

 

 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS .

  1. Mallott, E.K., L.H. Skovmand, P.A. Garber, and K.R. Amato*. (2022). The fecal metabolome of black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) varies in response to seasonal dietary changes. Molecular Ecology. 31(15): 4146-4161.

  2. Mallott, E.K. and K.R. Amato*. (2022). Butyrate production pathways in primate gut microbiomes. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 39(1): msab279.

  3. Amato, K.R.*, E.K. Mallott, P.D. Maia, M.L. Savo Sardaro. (2021). Pre-digestion as an evolutionary impetus for human fermented food use. Current Anthropology. 62(S24): S2017-S219

  4. Cortes-Ortiz, L. and K.R. Amato. (2021). Host genetics influence the gut microbiome. Science. 373(6551): 159-160.

  5. Mallot, E.K. and K.R. Amato* (2021). Host specificity of the gut microbiome. Nature Reviews Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-021-00562-3

  6. Amato, K.R.*, M.C. Arrieta, M. B. Azad, M.T. Bailey, J.L. Broussard, C.E. Bruggeling, E.C. Claud, E.K. Costello, E.R. Davenport, B.E. Dutilh, H.A. Swain Ewald, P. Ewald, E.C. Hanlon, W. Julion, A. Keshavarzian, C.F. Maurice, G.E. Miller, G.A. Preidis, L. Segurel, B. Singer, S. Subramanian, L. Zhao, C.W. Kuzawa. (2021). The human gut microbiome and health inequities. Proceedings of the National Academies of Science. 18(25): e2017947118

  7. Amato, K.R.*, O.M. Chaves, E.K. Mallott, T.M. Eppley, F. Abreu, A.L. Baden, A.A. Barnett, J.C. Bicca-Marques, S.A. Boyle, C.J. Campbell, C.A. Chapman, M.F. De la Fuente, P. Fan, P.J. Fashing, A. Felton, B. Fruth, V.B. Fortes, C.C. Grueter, G. Hohmann, M. Irwin, J.K. Matthews, A. Mekonnen, A.D. Melin, D.B. Morgan, J. Ostner, N. Nguyen, A.K. Piel, B. Pinacho-Guendulain, E.P. Quintino-Arêdes, P.T. Razanaparany, N. Schiel, C.M. Sanz, O. Schülke, S. Shanee, A. Souto, J.P. Souza-Alves, F. Stewart, K.M. Stewart, A. Stone, B. Sun, S. Tecot, K. Valenta. E.R. Vogel, S. Wich, Y. Zeng. (2021). Fermented food consumption in wild nonhuman primates and its ecological drivers. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 175(3): 513-530.

  8. Mallott, E.K., C. Borries, A. Koenig, K.R. Amato**, A. Lu**. (2020) Reproductive hormones mediate changes in the gut microbiome during pregnancy and lactation in Phayre’s leaf monkeys. Scientific Reports, 10: 9961.

  9. Kuthyar, S., M. Manus, K.R. Amato. (2019) Leveraging non-human primates for exploring the social transmission of microbes. Current Opinion in Microbiology. 50: 8-14.

  10. Amato, K.R., E.K. Mallott, D. McDonald, N.J. Dominy, T. Goldberg, J.E. Lambert, L. Swedell, J.L. Metcalf, A. Gomez, G.A.O. Britton, R.M. Stumpf, S.R. Leigh, R. Knight. (2019). Convergence of human and Old World monkey gut microbiomes demonstrates the importance of human ecology over phylogeny. Genome Biology. 20(1): 201-213.

  11. Amato, K.R., C.F. Maurice, K. Guillemin, T. Giles-Vernick. (2019) Multi-disciplinary in microbiome research: A challenge and opportunity to rethink causation, variability, and scale. BioEssays. 41(10): 1900007.

  12. Amato, K.R. (2019). Missing links: The role of primates in understanding the human microbiome. mSystems Special Issue on Early Career Scientists. 4: ee00165-19.

  13. Amato, K.R., T. Jeyakumar, H. Poinar, P. Gros. (2019) Shifting climates, shifting foods, shifting diseases: Microbial perspectives on human evolution. Bioessays.41(10): 1900034.

  14. Amato, K.R.*, J. Sanders, S.J. Song, M. Nute, J. Metcalf, L.R. Thompson, J.T. Morton, A. Amir, V. McKenzie, G. Humphrey, G. Gogul, J. Gaffney, A. Baden, G. Britton, F. Cuozzo, A. Di Fiore, N. Dominy, T. Goldberg, A. Gomez, M.M. Kowalewski, R. Lewis, A. Link, M. Sauther, S. Tecot, B. White, K. Nelson, R. Stumpf, R. Knight, S. Leigh. (2019) Evolutionary trends in host physiology outweigh diet in structuring primate gut microbiomes. ISME Journal. 13(3): 576-587.

  15. Amato, K.R.*, R. Martinez-Mota, N. Righini, M. Raguet-Schofield, F.P. Corcione, E. Marini, G. Humphrey, G. Gogul, J. Gaffney7, E. Lovelace, L. Williams, A. Luong, M.G. Dominguez-Bello, R.M. Stumpf, B. White, K. Nelson, R. Knight, S.R. Leigh. (2016). Phylogenetic and ecological factors impact the gut microbiota of two Neotropical primate species. Oecologia. 180(3): 717-733. doi: 10.​1007/​s00442-015-3507-z

  16. Amato, K.R., S.R. Leigh, A.D. Kent, R. Mackie, C.J. Yeoman, R.M. Stumpf, B. A. Wilson, K.E. Nelson, B.A. White, P.A. Garber. (2015). The gut microbiota appears to compensate for seasonal diet variation in the wild black howler monkey. (Alouatta pigra). Microbial Ecology. 69(2): 434-443.

  17. Amato, K.R., S.R. Leigh, A.D. Kent, R. Mackie, C.J. Yeoman, R.M. Stumpf, B.A. Wilson, K.E. Nelson, B.A. White, P.A. Garber. (2014). The role of gut microbes in satisfying the demands of adult and juvenile wild, black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra). American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 155(4): 652-664. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22621

  18. Amato, K.R., C.J. Yeoman, A. Kent, N. Righini, F. Carbonero, A. Estrada, H.R. Gaskins, R. Stumpf, S. Yildirim, M. Torralba, M. Gillis, B. Wilson, K. Nelson, B. White, S.R. Leigh. (2013). Habitat degradation impacts black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra) gastrointestinal microbes. The ISME Journal. 7: 1344-1353. doi:10.1038/ismej.2013.16.