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Microbiome

The microbiota maintains oxygen balance in the gut

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 15, pages 574–575 (2017)Cite this article

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A healthy gut microbiota is characterized by a dominance of obligate anaerobic bacteria of the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla that prevent the expansion of facultative aerobic and potentially pathogenic members of the Enterobacteriaceae family, in part by limiting the production of oxygen and nitrate by the host. However, the molecular mechanisms that underlie this regulation and trigger host signalling were unknown.

A recent study by Byndloss et al. found that the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) was activated by the gut microbiota as a homeostatic pathway to prevent the dysbiotic expansion of members of the Enterobacteriaceae in the gut, and that its activation limited the availability of nitrate and oxygen.

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References

  1. Byndloss, M. X. et al. Microbiota-activated PPAR-γ signaling inhibits dysbiotic Enterobacteriaceae expansion. Science 357, 570–575 (2017)

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  1. Irene Vacca
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Vacca, I. The microbiota maintains oxygen balance in the gut. Nat Rev Microbiol 15, 574–575 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2017.112

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