Scientific Reports - Microbial metabolite p-cresol associates with constipation in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder and induces constipation-like symptoms in mice

De plus en plus de personnes souffrent de maladies gastro-intestinales. Pour mieux comprendre ces pathologies et apporter des solutions aux patients, les scientifiques travaillent sur les organoïdes, ...

In this cross-journal Collection we invite submissions of basic, pre-clinical, and clinical studies focusing on the bidirectional communication between the ...

A metagenomic survey of babies attending the first year of nursery detected extensive baby-to-baby microbial strain transmission, pointing to social interactions in infancy as crucial drivers of infan...

Microbiota-derived metabolites serve as key messengers mediating host–microbe and microbe–microbe interactions, often through specialized primary meta…

The Biodiversity Cell Atlas aims to create comprehensive single-cell molecular atlases across the eukaryotic tree of life, which will be phylogenetically informed, rely on high-quality genomes and use...

Here, by integrating faecal metabolomics, metagenomics, and habitual dietary data of two large human cohorts, the authors show that faecal metabolites reflect diet and gut microbiome interactions, pre...

Postnatal development is a critical period for the maturation of the nervous and immune systems. The choroid plexus (CP) within the brain ventricles guides brain development through the production of ...

Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 14 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01262-yThe gut microbiome can influence brain activity and complex behaviours. In this Review, Griffiths et al. discuss microbiome-associated effects on social behaviour in laboratory model organisms, free-living animals and humans, and consider potential mechanistic pathways.

The microbial metabolite p-cresol and p-cresol sulfate accumulate in brainstem and inhibit TH and DBH, key enzymes in catecholamine synthesis. This disruption alters brain function and behavior, ...

Taku Shimada and colleagues show that socially parasitic queens of two ant species spray their respective host queens with chemical signals that trigger host workers to kill the resident queen.

During menstruation, an inner layer of the endometrium is selectively shed, while an outer, progenitor-containing layer is preserved to support repeated regeneration. Progress in understanding this co...

Infant feeding plays a crucial role in microbial colonization, immune maturation, and development. Human milk is a bioactive system comprising biologics that shape the infant gut microbiome and suppor...

Comparative analyses of 163 ant genomes reveal extensive genome rearrangements, context-specific gene family expansion patterns, and selection on conserved pathways that together underpin the evolutio...

The gut microbiota influences human and animal cognition and behaviour through its effects on the endocrine and immune systems. The microbiome–behaviour relationship may be especially relevant for fish, due to their diverse evolutionary history and ...

Re-examination of the presumed Cambrian fossil fish Anatolepis reveals previous misidentification of aglaspidid sensory structures as dentine, a vertebrate sensory tissue, showing it to be a...

Borak et al. reveal that male mice can infer the dominance status of unfamiliar opponents using scalable chemosensory cues. Sensory ablation experiments demonstrate that both olfactory and vomeronasal...

Scientific Reports - Perinatal exposure to the autism-linked metabolite p-Cresol has limited impact on early development in mice but lasting effects on adult social behavior

Paired transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility profiling are used to examine the developmental trajectories of neuronal populations in the hypothalamic preoptic region, including cell types with ke...

Paired transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility profiling are used to examine the developmental trajectories of neuronal populations in the hypothalamic preoptic region, including cell types with ke...

New data on brain-wide circuits centred around two interconnected hypothalamic neuron populations provide significant mechanistic insights into the emergence of social need during social isolation and...

Goto et al. measure the pulsatile activity of the reproductive center in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus during puberty in female mice. They discover that food availability rapidly and bidirectionall...

Reports of proteins in fossilized bones have been a subject of controversy in the scientific literature because it is assumed that fossilization results in the destruction of all organic components. In this paper, a novel combination of analytical techniques is used to address this question for an exceptionally well-preserved Edmontosaurus sacrum excavated from the Upper Cretaceous strata of the South Dakota Hell Creek Formation. Cross-polarized light microscopy (XPol) shows birefringence consistent with collagen presence. Tandem LC-MS unambiguously identified, and for the first time quantified, hydroxyproline, a unique collagen-indicator amino acid, in acid-digested samples from the Edmontosaurus. LC-MS/MS bottom-up proteomics shows identical collagen peptide sequences previously identified and reported for another hadrosaur and a T. rex sample.

Alterations in bile acid profile and pathways contribute to hepatic inflammation in cancer cachexia, a syndrome worsening the prognosis of cancer patients. As the gut microbiota impinges on host me...

Maltese et al. show in mice that experiencing an adverse event affects future interaction with others experiencing the same stressor. These self-experience socioemotional reactions are orchestrated by...

Jiang et al. identified distinct gut microbiota profiles in healthy individuals and patients with shingles or postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). They developed a metagenomics-based model to assess PHN risk and showed that Roseburia intestinalis produces butyrate to alleviate pain by activating vagal nerves, suppressing pain-related brain regions in animal models.

Background The gut microbiota has a profound effect on immunity and metabolic status of the host, which has increasingly attracted research communities. However, the intrinsic mechanism underlying the...

In a rigorous 40-month study, we evaluated the geroprotective effects of metformin on adult male cynomolgus monkeys, addressing a gap in primate aging…

GLP-1R agonists may reduce cardiometabolic complications in part through reduction of inflammation. Here we show, using pharmacology and genetics, that the anti-inflammatory actions of GLP-1RAs to reduce TLR-mediated inflammation require CNS GLP-1R signaling.

Douglass et al. employ long-term, continuous fiber photometry to uncover new modes of agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neuron regulation in ad libitum, fasted, and circadian conditions. AgRP neuron activity exhibits a circadian rhythm, which controls daily feeding patterns through a neural circuit from the suprachiasmatic nucleus via the dorsomedial hypothalamus.

Immune activation is often thought to exacerbate stress-related mental disorders. Here, Xia, Lu, Lan, et al. reveal elevated IL-22 derived from the gut during the early phase of repeated stress. IL-22 suppresses neuron activation in the brain and mitigates stress-induced anxiety, suggesting an immune defense mechanism against psychological insults.

Animals selectively acquire specific symbiotic gut bacteria from their environments that aid host fitness. To colonize, a symbiont must locate its niche and sustain growth within the gut. Adhesins are...

The concept of eco-evolutionary (eco-evo) dynamics, stating that ecological and evolutionary processes occur at similar time scales and influence each other, has contributed to our understanding of re...

Uniting life’s seen and unseen realms guides a conceptual advance in research

We examined the impact of sugar exposure within 1000 days since conception on diabetes and hypertension, leveraging quasi-experimental variation from the end of the United Kingdom’s sugar rationing in...

Gut microbes are known to modulate stress responsivity and behavior. Tofani et al. demonstrate that such modulations occur via the circadian system. The oscillations in gut microbiota composition regu...