Stress goes viral: Faecal Virome transplantation in mice
The microbiota-gut-brain axis has been shown to play an important role in stress response, however, previous work has focused primarily on the role of the bacteriome. The gut virome constitutes a major portion of the microbiome, with bacteriophages having the potential to remodel bacteriome structure and activity. Here, we use a mouse model of chronic social stress, and employ 16S rRNA and whole metagenomic sequencing on faecal pellets to determine how the virome is modulated by and contributes to the effects of stress. We find that chronic stress led to behavioural, immune, and bacteriome alterations in mice that were associated with changes in the bacteriophage class Caudoviricetes and unassigned viral taxa . To determine if these changes were causally related to stress-associated behavioural or physiological outcomes, we conducted a faecal virome transplant from mice before stress and autochthonously transferred it to mice undergoing chronic social stress. The transfer of the faecal virome protected against stress-associated behaviour sequalae, and restored stress-induced changes in select circulating immune cell populations, cytokine release, bacteriome alterations and gene expression in the amygdala. These data provide evidence that the virome plays a role in the modulation of the microbiota-gut-brain axis during stress, indicating that these viral populations should be considered when designing future microbiome-directed therapies. This is the brain transcriptomics data of that study.