Lactic acid bacteria derived bacteriocin targets purine and histidine metabolisms of gut microbiota to alleviate colitis

Gut microbiota is an unignored target in maintaining intestinal homeostasis due to its regulatory effects on intestinal health through multiple mechanisms, including enhancing intestinal barriers, modulating microbial diversity, secreting various metabolites, etc. Bacteriocins produced by probiotics have been gradually proved vital for intestinal diseases intervention, however, the corresponding mechanisms have received less attention and the whole story of their regulative activities are hard to be fully uncovered. The two-peptide Plantaricin NC8 (PLNC8), coded by gene plnc8, is a bacteriocin ubiquitously produced by Lactobacillus plantarum, has been regarded as the potential vital bacteriocin for the anti-inflammatory effects of Lactobacillus plantarum. This study exploited CRISPR-cas9 and prokaryotic gene overexpression techniques to construct the plnc8 strains for the anti-inflammatory mechanism investigation. Based on the metagenomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis, the anti-enteritis mechanism of PLNC8 systematically in DSS-induced enteritis models were comprehensively revealed. PLNC8 induced alterations in the composition of gut microbiota composition, promoting the alterations of multiple probiotics such as Eubacterium plexicaudatum, Doreasp.5-2, Enterococcus cecorum and Prevotella oulorum. Besides, various metabolites produced by the gut microbiota were influenced, and the key metabolites of xanthine, hypoxanthine, and L-histidine were regulated via purine and histidine metabolic pathways. These metabolites further inhibited p38 MAPK phosphorylation of enterocytes induced by DSS. Ultimately, the intestinal barrier repairment and anti- enteritis were achieved, proving the anti-enteritis effects of PLNC8 via microbe-metabolites-enterocyte axis.