Among mammals, humans are exquisitely sensitive to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an environmentally pervasive bacterial cell membrane component. Very small doses of LPS trigger powerful immune responses in humans and can even initiate symptoms of sepsis. Close evolutionary relatives such as African and Asian monkeys require doses that are an order of magnitude higher to do the same. Why humans have evolved such an energetically expensive antimicrobial strategy is a question that biological anthropologists are positioned to help address. Here we compare LPS sensitivity in primate/mammalian models and propose that human high sensitivity to LPS is adaptive, linked to multiple immune tactics against pathogens, and part of multi‐faceted anti‐microbial strategy that strongly overlaps with that of other mammals. We support a notion that LPS sensitivity in humans has been driven by microorganisms that constitutively live on us, and has been informed by human behavioral changes over our species' evolution (e.g., meat eating, agricultural practices, and smoking).

中文翻译：

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败血症和人类进化对脂多糖的敏感性增加

在哺乳动物中，人类对脂多糖（LPS）非常敏感，脂多糖是一种环境无处不在的细菌细胞膜成分。极少量的LPS会触发人类强大的免疫反应，甚至可能引发败血症症状。像非洲和亚洲猴这样的近亲进化亲戚需要的剂量要高一个数量级。人类为何进化出如此耗能巨大的抗菌策略，这是生物学人类学家可以帮助解决的一个问题。在这里，我们在灵长类/哺乳动物模型中比较了LPS的敏感性，并提出人类对LPS的高敏感性是适应性的，与针对病原体的多种免疫策略相关，并且是与其他哺乳动物的多重重叠的多方面抗微生物策略的一部分。