Dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in WT and NAPRT KO mice [NAPRTKODSS]

NAPRT-mediated deamidated biosynthesis of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), an essential electron carrier for hundreds of biochemical reactions in all living cells, mediates the diet-microbe-host NAD metabolic interaction in mice. To study the function of this metabolic pathway in vivo, we recently generated a mutant mouse strain (NAPRT KO) in which a 21-nt fragment that encodes 7 amino acids in the catalytic domain of NAPRT was deleted in all cells using the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing technology. Our data showed that NAPRT KO mice are hypersensitive to DSS-induced colitis. To better understand this hypersensitivity at the molecular level, we analyzed transcriptomes of colon tissues from DSS-treated WT and NAPRT KO mice.