image: Epididymal fat pads of Nfil3ΔIEC (right) and Nfil3fl/fl mice fed on a high-fat, Western-style diet for 10 weeks. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the Sept. 1, 2017, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by Y. Wang at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, and colleagues was titled, "The intestinal microbiota regulates body composition through NFIL3 and the circadian clock." view more
Credit: Yuhao Wang and Lora V. Hooper
一种被称作NFIL3的蛋白是肠道中关键代谢活动的中心，肠道细菌可在其中从食物获取能量，并将其转移至存储的脂肪。与许多代谢通路类似，这一过程似乎能通过组成身体生物钟的分子而与昼夜光周期同步，但人们对该作用的确切机制所知甚少。然而，这一联系颇为重要，因为它们或能解释为什么那些生物钟被打乱的人（如那些做夜班或经常进行国际旅行的人）罹患代谢性疾病（包括肥胖症和糖尿病）的风险会增加。Yuhao Wang和同事如今证明，肠道细菌可通过免疫细胞信号传导而产生调控NFIL3昼夜循环的蛋白。NFIL3转而能控制某代谢通路的昼夜波动，该通路能调控脂肪吸收并将其输送到肠道的衬里细胞之中。作者写道，这些发现可“加深理解为什么扰乱微生物群-生物钟的相互作用可导致代谢性疾病。”
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Journal
Science