Epithelial transcription factor Elf3 mediates host immune responses to microbiota and protects against aerocystitis in zebrafish.

ABSTRACT: Animals defend against infections and other diseases by adaptively responding to the microbiota they encounter. These adaptations are driven by changes in gene expression programs; however, our understanding of the transcription factors regulating host responses to microbiota remains limited. By leveraging gene expression and chromatin accessibility data from zebrafish and mice, we identified the epithelial-specific E74-like ETS transcription factor 3 (Elf3) as a conserved microbially responsive transcription factor. Transcriptomic analysis of gnotobiotic elf3 mutant zebrafish larvae revealed that elf3 is required for a normal host response to microbiota, including induction of immune response genes. Mutation of elf3 led to immune-related pathologies such as inf

SUBMITTER: Davis BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12691682 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature