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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 May 4.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Metab. 2011 May 4;13(5):517–526. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2011.02.018

Figure 6. Microbial Regulation of Colonocyte Metabolism.

Figure 6

Schematic showing that dietary fiber is fermented by microbes into butyrate in the lumen of the colon, which is transported into the colonocyte. In the colonocyte, butyrate promotes oxidative metabolism and inhibits autophagy. Based on transcriptome and proteome experiments, enzymes regulated by microbes are boxed. In all cases, boxed enzymes that function in β-oxidation and the TCA cycle are downregulated in GF colonocytes, revealing that microbes positively regulate their expression. Diminished ATP results in phosphorylation of AMPK and p27, which culminates in autophagy.