Effects of flora deficiency on the structure and function of the large intestine

• Published in: iScience Vol. 27; no. 2; p. 108941
• Main Authors: Chai, Tailiang, Shen, Juan, Sheng, Yifei, Huang, Yufen, Liang, Weiming, Zhang, Zhao, Zhao, Ruizhen, Shang, Haitao, Cheng, Wei, Zhang, Hang, Chen, Xueting, Huang, Xiang, Zhang, Yin, Liu, Jiazhe, Yang, Huanjie, Wang, Linying, Pan, Shanshan, Chen, Yang, Han, Lijuan, Qiu, Qinwei, Gao, Aibo, Wei, Hong, Fang, Xiaodong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 16.02.2024; Elsevier
• Subjects: Metabolomics; Microbiome; Transcriptomics; Metabolomics; Transcriptomics; Microbiome
• ISSN: 2589-0042; 2589-0042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.108941

The significant anatomical changes in large intestine of germ-free (GF) mice provide excellent material for understanding microbe-host crosstalk. We observed significant differences of GF mice in anatomical and physiological involving in enlarged cecum, thinned mucosal layer and enriched water in cecal content. Furthermore, integration analysis of multi-omics data revealed the associations between the structure of large intestinal mesenchymal cells and the thinning of the mucosal layer. Increased Aqp8 expression in GF mice may contribute to enhanced water secretion or altered hydrodynamics in the cecum. In addition, the proportion of epithelial cells, nutrient absorption capacity, immune function and the metabolome of cecum contents of large intestine were also significantly altered. Together, this is the first systematic study of the transcriptome and metabolome of the cecum and colon of GF mice, and these findings contribute to our understanding of the intricate interactions between microbes and the large intestine. [Display omitted] •Spatiotemporal transcriptome atlas of the large intestine of GF and SPF mice•Increased AQP8 in enterocytes leads to more water secretion into the intestinal lumen•Reduced extracellular matrix building function relates to thinning of the GF gut wall•GF large intestine has increased nutrient absorption and decreased immune function Microbiome; Metabolomics; Transcriptomics