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. 2001 Apr;69(4):2372-7.
doi: 10.1128/IAI.69.4.2372-2377.2001.

Influence of major histocompatibility complex on bacterial composition of fecal flora

P Toivanen  1 , J Vaahtovuo, E Eerola
Affiliations

Influence of major histocompatibility complex on bacterial composition of fecal flora

P Toivanen et al. Infect Immun. 2001 Apr.

Abstract

Very little is known about how the host genome influences the composition of the gastrointestinal flora, largely due to the great number and diversity of bacteria present in the flora and the difficulties of using traditional methods of bacterial isolation and identification. We have approached the problem by studying bacterium-derived cellular fatty acids in the stool samples of six mouse strains congenic for the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The results obtained indicate that the composition of the fecal flora is genetically regulated. In addition to undefined gene loci, MHC alone has a pronounced effect, since mice with different MHC in the same background have significantly different fecal floras. Demonstration of the genetic influence on the gastrointestinal flora opens a new approach to studying the pathogenesis of bacterially induced diseases.

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Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
GLC analysis of CFAs from stool samples of a conventionally housed mouse and a germ-free mouse. The samples were processed identically. Each peak represents a fatty acid. Also presented is the CFA profile of sterile food pellets used for the germ-free mice, processed similarly to the stool samples. When stained, both the sterile food pellets and germ-free stool were found to contain gram-positive bacteria.
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
Example of cluster analysis with CFA profiles from stool samples of A.CA (H-2f), A.BY (H-2b), and A.SW (H-2s) mice, taken at 7 weeks of age. Each figure within the H-2 genotypes indicates a sample from one mouse. All 19 samples are compared to each other and clustered according to similarity. An index of 100 indicates complete similarity with the same fatty acids (peaks in the chromatogram) found in the same concentrations in the samples compared; an index of 0 indicates complete dissimilarity. Stool CFA profiles from mice with different H-2 genotypes form separate clusters revealing considerable homogeneity within each genotype. Position of the vertical lines on the scale indicates similarity between the samples or between the clusters. Differences between the clusters (H-2 genotypes) are statistically significant (P ≤ 0.001).
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