Malnutrition articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  21 November 2023 | Open Access

  Intestinal Atp8b1 dysfunction causes hepatic choline deficiency and steatohepatitis

  Choline is an essential nutrient derived primarily from dietary phosphatidylcholine, and its deficiency causes steatohepatitis. Here, the authors show that intestinal Atp8b1 contributes to choline metabolism through lysoPC absorption and that its dysfunction causes choline deficiency and steatohepatitis.

  • Ryutaro Tamura
  • , Yusuke Sabu
  •  & Hisamitsu Hayashi

• Article
  14 February 2023 | Open Access

  The gut microbiome and early-life growth in a population with high prevalence of stunting

  Here, using metagenomics, the authors show that the gut microbiome of rural Zimbabwean infants undergoes programmed maturation that is unresponsive to sanitation and nutrition interventions but is strongly associated with maternal HIV infection and can moderately predict linear growth.

  • Ruairi C. Robertson
  • , Thaddeus J. Edens
  •  & Amee R. Manges

• Article
  08 December 2022 | Open Access

  The role of the tryptophan-NAD + pathway in a mouse model of severe malnutrition induced liver dysfunction

  Impaired liver metabolic function is related to mortality in severely malnourished children. Here the authors report a role for the tryptophan-NAD + pathway in reduced hepatic mitochondrial function and liver steatosis in a mouse model of severe malnutrition.

  • Guanlan Hu
  • , Catriona Ling
  •  & Robert H. J. Bandsma

• Article
  12 November 2022 | Open Access

  Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli heat-labile toxin drives enteropathic changes in small intestinal epithelia

  Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli infections have been linked to non-diarrheal sequelae however, the reasons for this are unclear. Here, the authors present an additional role of heat-labile toxin in disrupting the structure and function of intestinal epithelial cells.

  • Alaullah Sheikh
  • , Brunda Tumala
  •  & James M. Fleckenstein

• Article
  06 October 2022 | Open Access

  Vitamin C epigenetically controls osteogenesis and bone mineralization

  For decades vitamin C’s primary function in bone has been attributed to its involvement in collagen synthesis. Here, the authors uncover that vitamin C’s central role in bone is to globally orchestrate osteogenesis via epigenetic mechanisms.

  • Roman Thaler
  • , Farzaneh Khani
  •  & Andre J. van Wijnen

• Article
  25 November 2021 | Open Access

  Cross-feeding between intestinal pathobionts promotes their overgrowth during undernutrition

  Malnourished children experience a high burden of intestinal pathogens that exacerbate growth stunting, and preventing this pathogen overgrowth has proved challenging. Here the authors show that diet-specific bacterial crossfeeding contributes to the overgrowth of intestinal pathogens during child malnutrition.

  • K. E. Huus
  • , T. T. Hoang
  •  & B. B. Finlay

• Article
  17 January 2020 | Open Access

  TDP-43 facilitates milk lipid secretion by post-transcriptional regulation of Btn1a1 and Xdh

  Milk lipid secretion is a critical process for the delivery of nutrition and energy from parent to offspring. Here the authors found that TDP-43, a RNA-binding protein, is required for milk lipid secretion by post-transcriptional regulation of Btn1a1 and Xdh mRNA stability.

  • Limin Zhao
  • , Hao Ke
  •  & Baowei Jiao

• Article
  19 December 2019 | Open Access

  Edematous severe acute malnutrition is characterized by hypomethylation of DNA

  The edematous form of severe acute childhood malnutrition (ESAM) presents with more severe multi-organ dysfunction than non-edematous SAM (NESAM). Here the authors assess genome-wide DNA methylation in buccal cells of SAM children and find that ESAM is characterized by hypomethylation at genes associated with disorders of nutrition and metabolism, including fatty liver and diabetes.

  • Katharina V. Schulze
  • , Shanker Swaminathan
  •  & Neil A. Hanchard

• Article
  04 August 2015 | Open Access

  Diet and specific microbial exposure trigger features of environmental enteropathy in a novel murine model

  Environmental enteropathy is a disorder of the small intestine that contributes to the persistence of childhood malnutrition worldwide. Here, Brownet al. show in mice that early-life malnourishment, in combination with exposure to commensal bacteria, remodels the small intestine to resemble features of the disease.

  • Eric M. Brown
  • , Marta Wlodarska
  •  & B. Brett Finlay