Tryptophan metabolites get the gut moving (Équipe Seksik - Sokol )

Cell Host Microbe. 2021;29(2):145-7

How gut microbes can regulate the enteric nervous system and gut-brain communications is a field of intense research. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Ye et al. demonstrate that bacteria can control intestinal motility and vagal neuronal activation via tryptophan catabolites through the receptor TrpA1 of enteroendocrine cells.

Fig: Regulation of local and distant host functions by microbiota-derived Trp metabolites