Intestinal commensal bacteria get growing attention due to their beneficial roles in the host immune system. We proposed to test the hypothesis that tryptophan metabolism mediates the interaction between intestinal commensal bacteria and host inflamma...
Intestinal commensal bacteria get growing attention due to their beneficial roles in the host immune system. We proposed to test the hypothesis that tryptophan metabolism mediates the interaction between intestinal commensal bacteria and host inflammatory responses, using Ido1 (indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1; a rate-limiting enzyme in tryptophan metabolism) knock-out (Ido1-/-) mice and wild-type (Ido1+/+) mice. Mouse inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) model was induced by dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) treatment. Both Ido1-/- and Ido1+/+ mice developed colitis by 2% DSS treatment; however, Ido1+/+ mice developed much more severe colonic inflammation compared with Ido1-/- mice. Especially, colon lengths were shortened and histological scores were higher in Ido1+/+ mice than Ido1-/- mice. Metagenomic analysis was performed to identify any changes in colonic microbiome profiles between two different genotypes. 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) pyrosequencing analysis revealed that distinct distribution of eight phyla were observed between Ido1-/- and Ido1+/+ mice. Interestingly, ratio of Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes was significantly different in those two groups of mice. Ido1-/- mice turned out to have more Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Barnesiella, Prevotella. Three out of these four bacteria are known to use tryptophan to produce indole. In Ido1+/+ mice, Mucispirillum, which utilize mucin and Escherichia/Shigella, which well known as pathogenic bacteria, was particularly high. Overall, these results suggest that Ido1 plays roles in development of mouse inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) through alteration of intestinal commensal bacteria profiles. Our findings provide one of the evidences that host system intestinal microbiota may communicate by sharing nutrient metabolism networks.