Peter Yuli Xing, Ruchi Agrawal, Anusha Jayaraman, Katherine Ann Martin, George Wei Zhang, Ee Ling Ngu, Llanto Elma Faylon, Staffan Kjelleberg, Scott A Rice, Yulan Wang, Adesola T Bello, Elaine Holmes, Jeremy K Nicholson, Luke Whiley, Sven Pettersson
Gut microbes supporting body growth are known but the mechanisms are less well documented. Using the microbial tryptophan metabolite indole, known to regulate prokaryotic cell division and metabolic stress conditions, we mono-colonized germ-free (GF) mice with indole-producing wild-type Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) or tryptophanase-encoding tnaA knockout mutant indole-non-producing E. coli . Indole mutant E. coli mice showed multiorgan growth retardation and lower levels of glycogen, cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose, resulting in an energy deficiency despite increased food intake...
April 2, 2024: Microorganisms