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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0iMeta

Gut virome orchestrates nitrogen partitioning between the host and microbiome

  • Shujie Xu1
  • Xianglin Fei1
  • Fengqing Lin2
  • Wenzi Wu1
  • Jiachen Zhuang1
  • Qiufen Mo3
  • Xiuan Zhan1
  • Aikun Fu1
  1. 1Zhejiang Key Laboratory of nutrition and breeding for high‐quality animal products, College of Animal Sciences Zhejiang University Hangzhou China
  2. 2Department of Critical Care Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School Nanjing University Nanjing China
  3. 3National Key Laboratory for Development and Utilization of Forest Food Resources, College of Food and Health Zhejiang A&F University Hangzhou China
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Abstract

Dietary protein is essential for host growth and nitrogen homeostasis. How dietary protein shapes intestinal phage–bacteria interactions and influences the translation of dietary cues into host physiological outcomes remains poorly understood. We show that low‐protein diet (LPD) substantially remodels the murine gut virome by altering phage–bacteria dynamics. Under LPD, nutritional stress suppresses bacterial phage release without altering the predicted proportion of lysogenic phages, leading to reduced free phage abundance and weaker bacterial lysis. Lysogenic phages carrying carbohydrate‐related auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) may promote expansion of the bacterial host population while suppressing urease‐mediated nitrogen recycling. High bacterial load coupled with low free phage availability creates a nitrogen trap that both sequesters host‐accessible nitrogen and accelerates urea loss, thereby constraining host growth. Both the normal diet (ND) virome, defined by its high free phage abundance and lytic potential, and an equivalently sized LPD phage pool partially rescued nitrogen flow in mice fed a LPD. These results reveal a previously unrecognized gut “viral shunt,” in which balanced phage–bacteria interactions redistribute nitrogen within the gut. Together, this study highlights the ecological significance of phage–bacteria interactions in host nutritional adaptation and suggests that targeted viral manipulation may offer a potential therapeutic strategy for protein‐deficiency‐related disorders.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{xu2026virome,
  title = {{Gut virome orchestrates nitrogen partitioning between the host and microbiome}},
  author = {Shujie Xu and Xianglin Fei and Fengqing Lin and Wenzi Wu and Jiachen Zhuang and Qiufen Mo and Xiuan Zhan and Aikun Fu},
  journal = {iMeta},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1002/imt2.70177},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/imt2.70177},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Gut virome orchestrates nitrogen partitioning between the host and microbiome
AU  - Shujie Xu
AU  - Xianglin Fei
AU  - Fengqing Lin
AU  - Wenzi Wu
AU  - Jiachen Zhuang
AU  - Qiufen Mo
AU  - Xiuan Zhan
AU  - Aikun Fu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/04
JO  - iMeta
DO  - 10.1002/imt2.70177
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1002/imt2.70177
AB  - Dietary protein is essential for host growth and nitrogen homeostasis. How dietary protein shapes intestinal phage–bacteria interactions and influences the translation of dietary cues into host physiological outcomes remains poorly understood. We show that low‐protein diet (LPD) substantially remodels the murine gut virome by altering phage–bacteria dynamics. Under LPD, nutritional stress suppresses bacterial phage release without altering the predicted proportion of lysogenic phages, leading to reduced free phage abundance and weaker bacterial lysis. Lysogenic phages carrying carbohydrate‐related auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) may promote expansion of the bacterial host population while suppressing urease‐mediated nitrogen recycling. High bacterial load coupled with low free phage availability creates a nitrogen trap that both sequesters host‐accessible nitrogen and accelerates urea loss, thereby constraining host growth. Both the normal diet (ND) virome, defined by its high free phage abundance and lytic potential, and an equivalently sized LPD phage pool partially rescued nitrogen flow in mice fed a LPD. These results reveal a previously unrecognized gut “viral shunt,” in which balanced phage–bacteria interactions redistribute nitrogen within the gut. Together, this study highlights the ecological significance of phage–bacteria interactions in host nutritional adaptation and suggests that targeted viral manipulation may offer a potential therapeutic strategy for protein‐deficiency‐related disorders.
SN  - 2770-5986
SN  - 2770-596X
ER  -