Abstract
The gastrointestinal lumen is a rich source of eukaryotic and prokaryotic viruses which, together with bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms comprise the gut microbiota. Pathogenic viruses inhabiting this niche have the potential to induce local as well as systemic complications; among them, the viral ability to disrupt the mucosal barrier is one mechanism associated with the promotion of diarrhea and tissue invasion. This review gathers recent evidence showing the contributing effects of diet, gut microbiota and the enteric nervous system to either support or impair the mucosal barrier in the context of viral attack.
Highlights
There is an ever-increasing amount of evidence indicating that changes in the gut lumen affect the host on many physiological levels
While the ability of rotavirus to suppress IFN-mediated responses facilitates its infective process without inducing substantial inflammation of the bowel mucosa [44], noroviruses have deleterious effects on the intestinal epithelium, disturbing both cell function, as well as tissue architecture and physiology which results in reduced absorptive surface and increased permeability
The intestinal tissue is innervated by two main types of neurons, both of which can undergo viral infection: a first division, characterized by their anatomical connection with distant tissues, are called intestinofugal neurons; a second subset of neurons are entirely contained within the gut tissue; these, and the glia supporting them, constitute the enteric nervous system (ENS) [78,79]
Summary
There is an ever-increasing amount of evidence indicating that changes in the gut lumen affect the host on many physiological levels. The stability of its composition is associated with a few consortia of viral genomes that are highly prevalent, persistent, and individual-specific [1] Whereas these stable consortia represent a relatively small proportion of the whole gut virome, their ability to influence the rest of the local microbiota, and the host’s health status, is certainly worthy of investigation. The virome as a whole is able to influence the transcriptional status of non-infected cells (due to release of interferon and other cytokines by infected ones) without constituting viral disease [6], suggesting that some eukaryotic viruses could be considered residents of the human gut [4].
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