PRJNA438024
mouse gut metagenome Transcriptome or Gene expression
The mammalian gut harbors a complex microbial ecosystem that provides essential metabolites and is the major site for the differentiation and accumulation of extrathymically generated regulatory T (pTreg) cells. To explore the impact of these cells on this microbial ecosystem, we assessed the composition of the intestinal microbiota and metabolome in pTreg cell-deficient and -sufficient mice. pTreg cell deficiency led to specific, limited perturbations in the microbiome, pervasive changes in circulating and intestinal metabolite profiles, and altered intestinal barrier features. Absence of a single species of bacteria depleted in pTreg cell-deficient animals, Mucispirillum schaedleri, was able to account in part for the sequelae of pTreg cell deficiency. These observations suggest that pTreg cells modulate the metabolic function of the intestinal microbiota by restricting immune defense mechanisms that would select against specific bacteria by disrupting a particular microbial nich