Analysis of the impact of dietary fiber and short-chain fatty acids in mouse immunoglobulin VHDJH somatic hypermutation and gut microbial

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) butyrate and propionate are metabolites from dietary fibers fermentation by gut microbiota that can affect differentiation or functions of T cells, macrophages and dendritic cells. We show here that these SCFAs directly impact B cells to modulate in a dose-dependent fashion AID and Blimp1 expression, class-switch DNA recombination, somatic hypermutation and plasma cell differentiation, thereby impairing, through B cell-intrinsic activity, local (intestinal) and systemic T-dependent and T-independent antibody responses. In human and mouse B cells, butyrate and propionate upregulate select miRNAs that target Aicda and Prdm1 mRNA-3'UTRs through epigenetic inhibition of histone deacetylation of the respective miRNA host genes.