Individual intestinal symbionts induce a distinct population of RORγ + regulatory T cells

T regulatory cells that express the transcription factor Foxp3 (Foxp3(+) T(regs)) promote tissue homeostasis in several settings. We now report that symbiotic members of the human gut microbiota induce a distinct T(reg) population in the mouse colon, which constrains immuno-inflammatory responses. This induction—which we find to map to a broad, but specific, array of individual bacterial species—requires the transcription factor Rorγ, paradoxically, in that Rorγ is thought to antagonize FoxP3 and to promote T helper 17 (T(H)17) cell differentiation. Rorγ's transcriptional footprint differs in colonic T(regs) and T(H)17 cells and controls important effector molecules. Rorγ, and the T(regs) that express it,…

• EM
  European Molecular Biology Organization
• HF
  Human Frontier Science Program
• LM
  Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
• BI
  Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: R01-AI51530, R56-AI110630
• UP
  UCB Pharma