The cecal content microbial RNA following social stress was studied. Social stress derived metatranscriptomics

Stressful life events are considered a risk factor for autoimmune disor-ders, though the mechanisms are unclear. Here we demonstrate that chronic social-stress induces virulence-associated transcriptional patterns in the murine gut micro-biota. The stress-influenced microbiota increased the presence of effector T helpercells in the mesenteric lymph nodes, including myelin-autoreactive cells. Inhibitionof the bacterial quorum sensor QseC, which is also responsive to norepinephrine, di-minished the presence of effector T helper cells and bacteria such as Acinetobacterin the mesenteric lymph nodes, without remarkably affecting the gut microbial com-position. Together, our results delineate a model in which the immune reaction tostress-responsive microbiota may compromise tolerance to self and therefore mayincrease the risk for autoimmune diseases in susceptible individuals.