Microbiota-derived indole limits Campylobacter jejuni colonization by inhibiting respiration and metabolism
Ritam Sinha, Barsha Bhattarai, Cristina Kraemer Zimpel, Elizabeth Ottosen, Rhiannon M. LeVeque, Pallavi Singh, Victor J. DiRita · 2026
Read Microbiota-derived indole limits Campylobacter jejuni colonization by inhibiting respiration and metabolism by Ritam Sinha, Barsha Bhattarai, Cristina Kraemer Zimpel, Elizabeth Ottosen, Rhiannon M. LeVeque, Pallavi Singh, Victor J. DiRita (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13580545.txt.
Description
Ritam Sinha and co-authors show how a chemical made by gut microbes keeps a food-poisoning bacterium at bay, in a 2026 study. Campylobacter jejuni thrives in the inflamed gut, yet healthy mice resist it unless their microbes or defences are disturbed. The team briefly inflamed mouse colons with a chemical irritant, which broke that resistance and let the bacterium bloom within three days.
The inflamed gut's microbes shifted: mucus-eating species rose, while species making protective short-chain fats and indole fell, and indole itself dropped sharply. Indole, a by-product of microbial digestion, turned out to be a brake on the invader. It suppresses the bacterium's breathing and metabolism, the study shows, limiting its growth. The work recasts a humble gut chemical as part of the fence against infection.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Ritam Sinha, Barsha Bhattarai, Cristina Kraemer Zimpel, Elizabeth Ottosen, Rhiannon M. LeVeque, Pallavi Singh, Victor J. DiRita |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 70 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |