Indigenous gut microbes modulate neural cell state and neurodegenerative disease susceptibility

The native microbiome influences a plethora of host processes, including neurological function. However, its impacts on diverse brain cell types remains poorly understood. Here, we performed single nucleus RNA sequencing on hippocampi from wildtype, germ-free mice and reveal the microbiome-dependent transcriptional landscape across all major neural cell types. We found conserved impacts on key adaptive immune and neurodegenerative transcriptional pathways, underscoring the microbiome’s contributions to disease-relevant processes. Mono-colonization with select indigenous microbes identified species-specific effects on the transcriptional state of brain myeloid cells. Colonization by Escherichia coli induced a distinct adaptive immune and neurogenerative disease-associated cell state, suggesting increased disease susceptibility. Indeed, E. coli exposure in the 5xFAD mouse model resulted in exacerbated cognitive decline and amyloid pathology, demonstrating its sufficiency to worsen Alzheimer’s disease-relevant outcomes. Together, these results emphasize the broad, species-specific, microbiome-dependent consequences on neurological transcriptional state and highlight the capacity of specific microbes to modulate disease susceptibility.