The mouse epidermis harbors two key resident immune populations—dendritic epidermal T cells (DETCs), a subset of invariant γδ T cells, and Langerhans cells (LCs), specialized tissue-resident macrophag...

Laboratory mice housed under specific pathogen-free conditions are the standard model in biomedical research. However, frequent germ-free rederivation and barrier housing restrict microbial exposure and interactions with commensal and pathogenic microorganisms. In contrast, wild mice encounter diverse microbial environments, undergo natural selection, and rely on robust immune responses for survival. Consequently, lifelong microbial exposure is a key driver in shaping mammalian physiology, establishing the need for naturalizing rodent models in biomedical research. By defining the concepts of ‘microbial self’ and ‘microbial nonself’, we propose a four-step guide for establishing a multigenerational wildling colony that accounts for both microbial self and microbial nonself. This reestablishes the common biological link shared by all free-living mammals, thereby improving the comparability between murine and human studies.

Laboratory mice housed under specific pathogen-free conditions are the standard model in biomedical research. However, frequent germ-free rederivation and barrier housing restrict microbial exposure a...

ImmunoTea Time · Episode

In this study, we report that microbiota depletion exacerbates acute graft-versus-host disease in the central nervous system, driven by microglial activati

Here, the authors apply a standardized system, called TXsystem, to transplant wild mouse gut microbiota into SPF mice, developing “TXwildlings” mice that stably retain natural microbiota and human-lik...