WIKIMEDIA, RAMAThe mammalian gut microbiome is involved in controlling the circadian rhythm of its host, according to a mouse study published today (April 16) in Cell Host & Microbe. In both mice and humans, timing of feeding and diet type can impact the bacterial populations of the gut. Now, Eugene Chang of the University of Chicago Medical Center and his colleagues have found that mouse gut microbiota produce metabolites in diurnal patterns, and these can influence the expression of circadian clock genes in the liver.
The results provide additional support for the idea that the gut microbiome is dynamic, said Satchidananda Panda of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies who was not involved in the work. “At night, we go to bed with a bunch of bugs in our stomachs and wake up in the morning with a different set of bugs,” said Panda. “The implications are pretty big because there are more bacterial cells in our guts than the number of cells in our body and these species produce different enzymes and factors that have a big impact on our overall metabolism.”
Joseph Takahashi, who studies mammalian circadian rhythm at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center but was not involved in the current work, noted in an e-mail ...
