Intestinal mouse microbiome Raw sequence reads
Gut microbiota plays a critical role in the regulation of immune homeostasis. Accordingly, several autoimmune disorders have been associated with dysbiosis in the gut microbiota. Our study in a murine model of multiple sclerosis shows that central nervous system autoimmunity involves a reduction in gut propionate. Metagenomic sequencing of the variable V4 region of the prokaryotic 16S ribosomal RNA gene present in feces was performed to characterize the microbiome profiles during this CNS autoimmunity. Our analysis of the gut microbiome provides a potential explanation of why the levels of propionate are decreased at the peak of the disease. Our findings suggest a homeostatic mechanism by which SCFA secreted in the colonic mucosa by the commensal microbiota under healthy conditions would stimulate GPR43 on colonic TCRab+ T-cells inducing an anti-inflammatory functional profile and their retention in this tissue.