The DOI matches its Crossref record; 71 of the 71 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Metabolic, Epigenetic, and Transgenerational Effects of Gut Bacterial Choline Consumption
Open accessAbstract
Choline is an essential nutrient and methyl donor required for epigenetic regulation. Here, we assessed the impact of gut microbial choline metabolism on bacterial fitness and host biology by engineering a microbial community that lacks a single choline-utilizing enzyme. Our results indicate that choline-utilizing bacteria compete with the host for this nutrient, significantly impacting plasma and hepatic levels of methyl-donor metabolites and recapitulating biochemical signatures of choline deficiency. Mice harboring high levels of choline-consuming bacteria showed increased susceptibility to metabolic disease in the context of a high-fat diet. Furthermore, bacterially induced reduction of methyl-donor availability influenced global DNA methylation patterns in both adult mice and their offspring and engendered behavioral alterations. Our results reveal an underappreciated effect of bacterial choline metabolism on host metabolism, epigenetics, and behavior. This work suggests that interpersonal differences in microbial metabolism should be considered when determining optimal nutrient intake requirements.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“The presence of the microbial cutC/D genes in human microbiota are associated with the ability to generate TMA from choline120, and with subsequent TMAO accumulation121.”
From Gut microbiota and cardiovascular disease. (2020) · cites this paper as [121]
In the citing paper
“Microbial metabolites including folate, butyrate and acetate are cofactors and allosteric regulators of epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation, histone acetylation and RNA interference190–192.”
From The gut microbiota and the brain–gut–kidney axis in hypertension and chronic kidney disease (2018) · cites this paper as [190]
In the citing paper
“Together, the available data suggest that epigenetic changes mediated by the gut microbiota are involved in the pathogenesis of dysbiosis-associated hypertension and CKD.”
From The gut microbiota and the brain–gut–kidney axis in hypertension and chronic kidney disease (2018) · cites this paper as [190]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Fast gapped-read alignment with Bowtie 2
Langmead, B., & Salzberg, S. L. (2012) · Nature Methods · doi:10.1038/nmeth.1923 · Cited by 56,400
A RAPID METHOD OF TOTAL LIPID EXTRACTION AND PURIFICATION
Bligh, E. G., & Dyer, W. J. (1959) · Canadian Journal of Biochemistry and Physiology · doi:10.1139/o59-099 · Cited by 54,751
RSEM: accurate transcript quantification from RNA-Seq data with or without a reference genome
Li, B., & Dewey, C. N. (2011) · BMC Bioinformatics · doi:10.1186/1471-2105-12-323 · Cited by 22,179
Schloss, P. D., Westcott, S. L., Ryabin, T., Hall, J. R., Hartmann, M., Hollister, E. B., Lesniewski, R. A., Oakley, B. B., Parks, D. H., Robinson, C. J., et al. (2009) · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · doi:10.1128/aem.01541-09 · Cited by 19,549
One-step inactivation of chromosomal genes in Escherichia coli K-12 using PCR products.
Datsenko, K., & Wanner, B. (2000) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · doi:10.1073/pnas.120163297 · Cited by 15,902
A human gut microbial gene catalogue established by metagenomic sequencing
MetaHIT Consortium, Qin, J., Li, R., Raes, J., Arumugam, M., Burgdorf, K. S., Manichanh, C., Nielsen, T., Pons, N., Levenez, F., et al. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08821 · Cited by 11,624
A core gut microbiome in obese and lean twins
Turnbaugh, P. J., Hamady, M., Yatsunenko, T., Cantarel, B. L., Duncan, A., Ley, R. E., Sogin, M. L., Jones, W. J., Roe, B. A., Affourtit, J. P., et al. (2009) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature07540 · Cited by 7,823
Kozich, J. J., Westcott, S. L., Baxter, N. T., Highlander, S. K., & Schloss, P. D. (2013) · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · doi:10.1128/aem.01043-13 · Cited by 7,246
Gut flora metabolism of phosphatidylcholine promotes cardiovascular disease
Wang, Z., Klipfell, E., Bennett, B. J., Koeth, R., Levison, B. S., DuGar, B., Feldstein, A. E., Britt, E. B., Fu, X., Chung, Y.-M., et al. (2011) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature09922 · Cited by 5,597
Intestinal microbiota metabolism of l-carnitine, a nutrient in red meat, promotes atherosclerosis
Koeth, R. A., Wang, Z., Levison, B. S., Buffa, J. A., Org, E., Sheehy, B. T., Britt, E. B., Fu, X., Wu, Y., Li, L., et al. (2013) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/nm.3145 · Cited by 4,386
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Gut microbial metabolites as multi-kingdom intermediates
Krautkramer, K. A., Fan, J., & Bäckhed, F. (2021) · Nature Reviews Microbiology · doi:10.1038/s41579-020-0438-4 · Cited by 1,398
Gut microbiota and cardiovascular disease.
Witkowski, M., Weeks, T. L., & Hazen, S. L. (2020) · Circulation Research · doi:10.1161/circresaha.120.316242 · Cited by 1,051
The gut microbiome: Relationships with disease and opportunities for therapy
Durack, J., & Lynch, S. V. (2018) · The Journal of Experimental Medicine · doi:10.1084/jem.20180448 · Cited by 979
Metabolic reprogramming and epigenetic modifications on the path to cancer
Sun, L., Zhang, H., & Gao, P. (2021) · Protein & Cell · doi:10.1007/s13238-021-00846-7 · Cited by 818
The gut microbiota and the brain–gut–kidney axis in hypertension and chronic kidney disease
Yang, T., Richards, E. M., Pepine, C. J., & Raizada, M. K. (2018) · Nature Reviews Nephrology · doi:10.1038/s41581-018-0018-2 · Cited by 753
Metadata
- Authors
- Romano, K. A., Martinez-del Campo, A., Kasahara, K., Chittim, C. L., Vivas, E. I., Amador-Noguez, D., Balskus, E. P., & Rey, F. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Balskus, Emily P.
- Rey, Federico E.
- Venue
- Cell Host & Microbe
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-09
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 279-290.e7
- ISSN
- 1931-3128 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5599363
- OpenAlex
- W2750083495
- Cited by
- 224
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 7.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Cell Host & Microbe (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- NIH (DK108259)
- Smith Family Award for Biomedical Research
- Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering (2013-39267)
- Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator Award
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture (WIS01910)
- Hatch (WIS01901)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Animal Nutrition and Physiology
- Keywords
- choline metabolism, gut microbiota, methyl donors, DNA methylation, epigenetics, transgenerational effects, choline deficiency, high-fat diet, metabolic disorders, host behavior, microbial community engineering
- MeSH terms
- Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Animals, Bacteria, Choline, Female, Humans, Intestinal Mucosa, Intestines, Male, Metabolic Diseases, Mice, Inbred C57BL, DNA Methylation, Epigenesis, Genetic
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review