Amir Rakhimov

I am a PhD student from Kazakhstan at the National Institute of Genetics, Japan. In 2022, I joined Biological Networks laboratory led by Masanori Arita.

My PhD project focuses on naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) and how their gut microbiota contributes to longevity. I analysed the gut microbiota composition of various rodents to find unique microorganisms in naked mole-rats. This project is a collaboration with Kyoko Miura’s lab at Kumamoto University.

I am also interested in the role of gut microbiota in evolution. One of the big questions in the microbiome research is host-microbiota interaction and host-microbiota co-evolution. Gut microbiome is a dynamic ecosystem which responds to changes in its host’s environment. At the same time, it influences the host via changes in metabolism, immune system, or complex carbohydrate digestion. I suppose that the gut microbiota also affected naked mole-rat’s unique physiology and extreme longevity.

In the future, I want to work on a genomics project, specifically related to transposable elements. Recent studies show that transposable elements are important drivers of evolution. The repertoire of transposable element sequences differs between organisms even among members of the same order. With more genomes being sequenced, it is important to understand the contribution of transposable elements to evolution and ecological niche adaptation.