Dock2 affects the host susceptibility to Citrobacter rodentium infection through regulating gut microbiota

BACKGROUND: Dysregulated gut microbiota is one of major pathogenic factors in the development of colitis. Dock2 acts as a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) and activates small G protein RAC1. Our previous study showed that, compared to wild type (WT) mice, Dock2(−/−) mice were more susceptible to colitis induced by Citrobacter rodentium infection. However, it is not clear whether gut microbiota affects the host susceptibility to enteric bacterial infection in Dock2(−/−) mice. RESULTS: In this study, we demonstrated that Dock2 regulated the gut microbiota and affected the host susceptibility to C. rodentium infection by co-housing, fecal microbiota transfer and antibiotic treatment methods. Microbiota analysis by 16 S rRNA gene sequencing showed that Dock2 increased the abundance of prevotellaceae-NK3B31-group and Lactobacillus but decreased that of Helicobacter. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that Dock2 regulates the composition of gut microbiota and affects the host susceptibility to C. rodentium infection. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13099-021-00449-x.