WIKIMEDIA, CHRISTOPH BOCKShortly after we finish a good meal, our resident microbes spring into action. The bacteria, viruses, and fungi that inhabit our guts send out metabolites that prepare our organs for the incoming nutrients. But the details of this symbiotic communication remain a mystery. Now, a November 23 study in Molecular Cell describes how microbes in mice send messages to a wide range of digestive tissues. The findings suggest that three specific short-chain fatty acids—acetate, propionate, and butyrate—act on histones to influence gene transcription epigenetically.
“The gut microbiome influences the host epigenome on a global scale,” said coauthor John Denu, an epigeneticist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “We discovered key communicators, or key molecules that communicate this information, to the host.”
Gut microbes produce a wide variety of metabolites, from bile acids to vitamins. Through fermentative reactions, gut microbes can also metabolize complex carbohydrates to form short-chain fatty acids, such as butyrate, which has been implicated in cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Previous studies have demonstrated that certain diets can spur gut bacteria to produce more short-chain fatty acids, which prompted Denu to ask: “Since these microbes are changing and they’re a large percentage of the metabolites produced by the bacteria, could those be sufficient ...
