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At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2026

Indole-3-acetic acid production is rare among gut bacteria and reflects OFOR-driven amino acid oxidation in acetogens.

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is a tryptophan-derived gut microbial metabolite with reported anti-inflammatory activities, but the organisms and anaerobic pathways that support robust production remain unclear. Screening 206 human gut bacterial isolates by LC-MS revealed that IAA production is rare: only five strains exceeded the limit of quantitation, and high-capacity production was confined to the acetogens Blautia hydrogenotrophica and Intestinibacter bartlettii. Across growth conditions, IAA was a minor product that rose alongside carbohydrate-sensitive, OFOR-linked catabolism of multiple amino acids, generating abundant branched-chain and aromatic organic acids. In gnotobiotic mice mono-colonized with I. bartlettii, these metabolites were produced in vivo but showed distinct host handling, with branched-chain fatty acids largely extracted between portal and peripheral plasma, whereas aromatic acids and their glycine conjugates appeared in plasma and urine. Genomic analyzes and heterologous enzyme assays identified expanded repertoires of 2-oxoacid:ferredoxin oxidoreductases (OFORs) with activities spanning pyruvate/oxaloacetate, branched-chain, and aromatic 2-oxoacids, including indolepyruvate conversion to indoleacetyl-CoA, a putative intermediate en route to IAA. Finally, position-specific 13C tracing showed that CO2 released during amino acid oxidation is reassimilated into acetate via reductive acetogenesis, indicating that gut acetogens can maintain redox balance without fermenting partner strains. Together, these findings show that high IAA output is restricted to select gut acetogens and linked to a broader OFOR-driven anaerobic metabolism that generates additional metabolites that are absorbed by the host.

Indoleacetic Acids↗
PubMed1976

Antigen-initiated B-lymphocyte differentiation. VIII. Sedimentation velocity and buoyant density characterization of virgin antibody-forming cell progenitors in the adoptive immune response of unprimed CBA mice to 4-hydroxy-3-iodo-5-nitrophenylacetic acid-polymerized bacterial flagellin antigen.

The characteristics of antibody-forming cell (AFC) progenitors lacking previous contact with specific antigen (virgin AFC progenitors) has been studied using sedimentation velocity and buoyant density separation for the investigation of physically distinct B-cell subpopulations. Functional characterization of isolated subsets was made using a quantitative adoptive immune assay for the IgM AFC progenitors responding to the antigen 4-hydroxy-3-iodo-5-nitrophenylacetic acid conjugated polymerized bacterial flagellin. Extensive heterogeneity is present among B lymphocytes, only some subpopulations of which exhibit AFC progenitor function. In the spleen of adult conventional CBA mice, atypically fast sedimenting cells of low buoyant density are active, while typical small B lymphocytes do not appear to be progenitors of IgM AFC. Spleen of adult specific pathogen-free (SPF), germfree, and athymic nude mice give similar results, although a minor population of typical slowly sedimenting dense cells are active in the latter two sources. Adult conventional bone marrow cells are as physically and functionally heterogeneous as splenic B cells, and although a significant proportion of AFC progenitor activity is found among dense, slowly sedimenting cells, most of the activity is among low density, faster sedimenting cells. In contrast to this situation in adult animals, where most of the unprimed AFC progenitors are large, atypical B cells, the spleens of neonatal mice provide a site where virgin AFC progenitors with the physical properties of typical small B lymphocytes are found. While being present in conventional and SPF neonatal spleens, these virgin cells are predominant in 7-day-old germfree mouse spleen. These findings suggest that the newborn virgin B cell is a typical small lymphocyte. However, few cells of this type are found in the adult animal. The unprimed AFC-progenitor population in the adult consists of large, fast sedimenting, low buoyant density, adherent cells, the physical properties of which are characteristic of activated B lymphocytes. It is suggested that these atypical cells are derived from the small newborn virgin B cell by the nonspecific effects of environmental antigenic stimuli.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1978

The mouse gut T lymphocyte, a novel type of T cell. Nature, origin, and traffic in mice in normal and graft-versus-host conditions.

Lymphocytes of the mouse intestinal mucosa, identified in tissue sections or purified suspensions of intraepithelial lymphocytes as T cells (gut T lymphocytes [GTL]), were studied in normal mice or in beige mice (the equivalent of the Chediak-Higashi syndrome in man, characterized by giant granules in various cell types, including mast cells). Mice were studied in normal or in germ-free conditions, or during a graft versus host (GVH) reaction resulting from the injection of parental thymocytes into lethally irradiated F1 mice, a condition leading to massive accumulation of T lymphocytes of donor origin in the host gut mucosa. In normal as well as in GVH conditions, a high percentage of the gut IE lymphocytes contain granules (up to 80% in the beige mouse). These granules have ultrastructural, hostochemical and other features resembling those of mast cell granules; in beige mice, up to 50% of them can be shown to contain histamine. Granulated T cells are also found in the lamina propria. It appears that the GTL may progressively lose their surface T antigens when the granules become more developed. Kinetics of [3H]TdR labeling of the GTL, transfer experiments with T cells of various origins, selective [3H]TdR labeling and selective irradiation of the Peyer's patches (PP), and effect of thoraic duct (TD) drainage led to the conclusion that GTL are the progeny of T cells stimulated to divide in the PP microenvironment, which endows them with a gut-homing tendency. From the PP, these cells follow a cycle, migrating to the TD and to the blood to colonize the whole intestinal mucosa, the majority of them as dividing cells undergoing a single round of traffic, with some probably able to recirculate and becoming a more long-lived variety. Antigenic stimulation within the PP is necessary for the emergence of GTL progenitors, but their gut-homing property is unrelated to the antigen as shown with fetal gut grafts, notably in GVH where grafts syngeneic to the host or donor become similarly infiltrated by GTL. On the basis of their properties and of further evidence to be reported elsewhere, it is proposed that GTL belong to a special class of T lymphocytes, related to the immune defenses of the mucosal systems in general, and capable of acting as progenitors of mucosal mast cells.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Immunochemical characterization of surface antigens of Bacteroides melaninogenicus.

Major surface antigens of Bactmbrane complex by gentle methods, purified, and characterized immunochemically. A lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was found to be chemically distinct from the LPS of facultative gram-negative bacteria in that it lacked two core sugars, 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate and heptose, as well as beta-hydroxymyristic acid, the predominant fatty acid in the lipid A moiety. The LPS was further atypical in that it had a very low level of biologic activity. A capsular polysaccharide was demonstrated morphologically by electron microscopy with ruthenium red staining and a ferritin-labeled antibody technique. This antigen was shown to be subspecies-specific by indirect immunofluorescence. Antibody to the capsular polysaccharide was measured by an enzyme-linked immunospecific assay. The presence of a relatively impotent LPS and a surface capsular antigen may partly explain the rarity of bacteremia and septic shock due to B. melaninogenicus subspecies asaccharolyticus and the common association of this organism with abscess formation.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Pathological changes during aging in barrier-reared Fischer 344 male rats.

Pathology, microbiology, and selected serum chemistries were evaluated in 144 male Fischer rats from 4 to 33 mo of age. The rats were reared and maintained under barrier conditions, which successfully excluded the introduction of major infectious disease agents throughout the entire study, including Mycoplasma pulmonis. A wide variety of pathology was found and tabulated, and many lesions were found to increase in severity and incidence with age. There was a high correlation of renal disease severity with increasing age, while alpha-1 globulin and cholesterol increased.

Adenoma, Chromophobe↗
PubMed2025

Function-based selection of synthetic communities enables mechanistic microbiome studies.

Understanding the complex interactions between microbes and their environment requires robust model systems such as synthetic communities (SynComs). We developed a functionally directed approach to generate SynComs by selecting strains that encode key functions identified in metagenomes. This approach enables the rapid construction of SynComs tailored to any ecosystem. To optimize community design, we implemented genome-scale metabolic models, providing in silico evidence for cooperative strain coexistence prior to experimental validation. Using this strategy, we designed multiple host-specific SynComs, including those for the rumen, mouse, and human microbiomes. By weighting functions differentially enriched in diseased versus healthy individuals, we constructed SynComs that capture complex host-microbe interactions. We designed an inflammatory bowel disease SynCom of 10 members that successfully induced colitis in gnotobiotic IL10-/- mice, demonstrating the potential of this method to model disease-associated microbiomes. Our study establishes a framework for designing functionally representative SynComs of any microbial ecosystem, facilitating mechanistic study.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Isolation of small viruses resembling astroviruses and caliciviruses from acute enteritis of calves.

Small round viruses (SRV) were isolated from the faeces of diarrhoeic calves from three farms. All three SRV preparations caused diarrhoea experimentally in gnotobiotic calves. Each preparation contained viral particles of two morphological types, "astrovirus-like" and "calicivirus-like", and from one preparation the two particle types were separated from each other. The calicivirus-like agent ("Newbury agent") was 33 nm in diameter, and caused diarrhoea in gnotobiotic calves with villous atrophy and D-xylose malabsorption. This virus did not infect cell cultures. The astrovirus-like agent did not cause diarrhoea in two gnotobiotic calves; however, it infected cell cultures (primary calf kidney) and the infected cells immunofluoresced with convalescent gnotobiotic-calf antiserum. The astrovirus-like agents in the three preparations were antigenically related. Experiments in calves showed that there was a degree of cross-protection between the three SRV preparations, as judged by the presence or absence of diarrhoea, but that at least three unrelated pathogens were present.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1977

Immune responses of BALB/c mice to the idiotype of T15 and of other myeloma proteins of BALB/c origin: implications for an immune network and antibody multispecificity.

Normal adult BALB/c mice are virtually unresponsive to the idiotype of myeloma protein T15 when immunized with purified T15. However, antibodies to the T15 idiotype can be elicited by T15 in BALB/c mice that are reared in a germ-free environment or injected as newborns with an alloantiserum to the idiotype. Some germ-free and neonatally suppressed mice also produce helper cells (presumably T helpers) that enhance B-cell production of anti-DNP antibodies in response to DNP-T15. Taken together with previous studies, the present results mean that so far there are no exceptions to the rule that BALB/c mice have B and T cells that can respond to idiotypes of myeloma proteins of BALB/c origin. There appears to be a reciprocal relation between the natural prevalence of an immunoglobulin's idiotype and its immunogenicity in isologous individuals. The findings support proposals for an immune network of idiotypes and anti-idiotypes. Besides binding one or more extrinsic antigens, it is likely that each immunoglobulin also binds the idiotype of some other immunoglobulin. An immune network therefore implies multispecificity of antibodies.

Animals↗
PubMed2025

The Gfr Uptake System Provides a Context-Dependent Fitness Advantage to Salmonella Typhimurium SL1344 During the Initial Gut Colonization Phase.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Tm) is a major cause of foodborne diarrhea. However, in healthy individuals, the microbiota typically restricts the growth of incoming pathogens, a protective mechanism termed colonization resistance (CR). To circumvent CR, Salmonella strains can utilize private nutrients that remain untapped by the resident microbiota. However, the metabolic pathways and environmental niches promoting pathogen growth are still not completely understood. Here, we investigate the significance of the gfr operon in gut colonization of S. Tm, which is essential for the utilization of fructoselysine (FL) and glucoselysine (GL). These Amadori compounds are present in heated foods with high protein and carbohydrate contents. We detected FL in both mouse chow and the intestinal tract of mice and showed that gfr mutants are attenuated during the initial phase of colonization in the murine model. Experiments in gnotobiotic mice and competition experiments with Escherichia coli suggest that gfr-dependent fitness advantage is context-dependent. We conclude that dietary Amadori products like FL can support S. Tm gut colonization, depending on the metabolic capacities of the microbiota.

Salmonella typhimurium↗
PubMed1978

Encephalitozoon cuniculi antibodies in a specific-pathogen-free rabbit unit.

We describe our discovery of Encephalitozoon cuniculi antibodies in a specific-pathogen-free rabbit colony. Small-sized samples had failed to reveal the presence of infection with a prevalence of about 5%. Using an India ink immunoreaction test by which we were able to visualize both negative and positive reactions, we were able to undertake a 100% screen of the colony of more than 700 rabbits and to repeat this 4 weeks later when we had culled the positive reactors. By collating the results of those tests with the results of tests on previously collected samples, we have been able to discuss and observe age and sex susceptibilities and the mode of transmission of the naturally occurring disease.

Aging↗
PubMed1979

Microbial interference and colonization of the murine gastrointestinal tract by Listeria monocytogenes.

Two strains of Listeria monocytogenes, one that formed smooth colonies on agar surfaces and a varient of it that formed rough colonies, colonized the gastrointestinal tracts of germfree mice. Within 24 h after mice were inoculated orally with about 100 bacteria, the population levels per gram (wet weight) of tissue of both strains were 10(5) to 10(7) in the stomach and ileum and 10(8) to 10(9) in the cecum and colon, respectively. As detected in Gram-stained histological sections, in such gnotobiotes, the bacteria colonized the lumen in all areas of the tract and much of the mucus layer on the epithelial surface in the proximal colon. The strain that formed smooth colonies did not colonize the tracts of specific-pathogen-free mice, but did colonize, to the same levels as in germfree mice, the stomachs and bowels of ex-germfree mice previously associated with two members of the indigenous flora (Bacteroides and Clostridium). In the latter animals, however, the listeria did not form layers on the colonic epithelium as efficiently as they did in monoassociated gnotobiotes.

Animals↗