Chemical signaling between gut microbiota and host chromatin: What is your gut really saying?

Kimberly A. Krautkramer; Federico E. Rey; John M. Denu

doi:10.1074/jbc.R116.761577

Chemical signaling between gut microbiota and host chromatin: What is your gut really saying?

From the ^‡Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Morgridge Institute for Research, and the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin 53715 and
the ^§Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706

↵2 Supported by National Institutes of Health Grant DK108259-01 and by National Institute of Food and Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, under Award No. 2016-67017-24416. To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: ferey{at}wisc.edu.
↵3 Supported by National Institutes of Health Grant GM059789-15/P250VA. To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: john.denu{at}wisc.edu.

Edited by Ruma Banerjee

Abstract

Mammals and their gut microbial communities share extensive and tightly coordinated co-metabolism of dietary substrates. A large number of microbial metabolites have been detected in host circulation and tissues and, in many cases, are linked to host metabolic, developmental, and immunological states. The presence of these metabolites in host tissues intersects with regulation of the host's epigenetic machinery. Although it is established that the host's epigenetic machinery is sensitive to levels of endogenous metabolites, the roles for microbial metabolites in epigenetic regulation are just beginning to be elucidated. This review focuses on eukaryotic chromatin regulation by endogenous and gut microbial metabolites and how these regulatory events may impact host developmental and metabolic phenotypes.

Footnotes

↵1 Supported by National Institutes of Health Grant F30 DK108494-01A1.
This is the sixth article in the Host-Microbiome Metabolic Interplay Minireview series. J. M. D. consults for BioTechne and FORGE Life Sciences. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.