Abstract

Commensal bacteria are crucial in maintaining host physiological homeostasis, immune system development, and protection against pathogens. Despite their significance, the factors influencing persistent bacterial colonization and their impact on the host still need to be fully understood. Animal models have served as valuable tools to investigate these interactions, but most have limitations. The bacterial genus Neisseria, which includes both commensal and pathogenic species, has been studied from a pathogenicity to humans perspective, but lacks models that study immune responses in the context of long-term persistence. Neisseria musculi, a recently described natural commensal of mice, offers a unique opportunity to study long-term host-commensal interactions. In this study, for the first time we have used this model to study the transcriptional, phenotypic, and functional dynamics of immune cell signatures in the mucosal and systemic tissue of mice in response to Neisseria musculi colonization. We found key genes and pathways vital for immune homeostasis in palate tissue, validated by flow cytometry of immune cells from lung, blood and spleen. This study offers a novel avenue for advancing our understanding of host-bacteria dynamics and may provide a platform for developing efficacious interventions against mucosal persistence by pathogenic Neisseria. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=151 SRC="FIGDIR/small/572139v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (39K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1728fdaorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@426a5forg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@55a90forg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1ce3ff6_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG