References

Selected literature illustrating recent advances in disentangling mouse genotype and microbiota contribution to phenotypes

Metabolism

Ley RE, Turnbaugh PJ, Klein S, Gordon JI. Microbiol ecology: human gut microbes associated with obesity. Nature 2006; 444: 1022-3. PMID: 17183309

Behaviour

Heijtz RD, Wang S, Anuar F, Qian Y, Björkholm B, Samuelsson A, Hibberd ML, Forssberg H, Pettersson S. Normal gut microbiota modulates brain development and behavior. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2010; 108: 3047-52. PMID: 21282636
Mayer EA. Gut feelings: the emerging biology of gut-brain communication. Nat Rev Neurosci 2011; 12: 453-66. PMID: 21750565

Autoimmune diseases and allergy

Berer K, Mues M, Koutrolos M, Rasbi ZA, Boziki M, Johner C, Wekerle H, Krishnamoorthy G. Commensal microbiota and myelin autoantigen cooperate to trigger autoimmune demyelination. Nature 2011; 479: 538-41. PMID: 22031325
Hadis U, Wahl B, Schulz O, Hardtke-Wolenski M, Schippers A, Wagner N, Müller W, Sparwasser T, Förster R, Pabst O. Intestinal tolerance requires gut homing and expansion of FoxP3+ regulatory T cells in the lamina propria. Immunity 2011; 34: 237-46. PMID: 21333554
Wen L, Ley RE, Volchkov PY, Stranges PB, Avanesyan L, Stonebraker AC, Hu C, Wong FS, Szot GL, Bluestone JA, Gordon JI, Chervonsky AV. Innate immunity and intestinal microbiota in the development of Type 1 diabetes. Nature 2008; 455: 1109-13. PMID: 18806780

Infection

Kane M, Case LK, Kopaskie K, Kozlova A, MacDearmid C, Chervonsky AV, Golovkina TV. Successful transmission of a retrovirus depends on the commensal microbiota. Science 2011; 334: 245-9. PMID: 21998394
Kuss SK, Best GT, Etheredge CA, Pruijssers AJ, Frierson JM, Hooper LV, Dermody TS, Pfeiffer JK. Intestinal microbiota promote enteric virus replication and systemic pathogenesis. Science 2011; 334: 249-52. PMID: 21998395

Technical description on how to raise germ-free mice

Giraud A. Axenic mice model. Methods Mol Biol 2008; 415: 321-36. PMID: 18370163

Proxy for axenization: large spectrum antibiotics treatment

Rakoff-Nahoum S, Paglino J, Eslami-Varzaneh F, Edberg S, Medzhitov R. Recognition of commensal microflora by toll-like receptors is required for intestinal homeostasis. Cell 2004; 118: 229-41. PMID: 15260992

This protocol for the treatment of mice with a cocktail of four antibiotics (ampicillin, neomycin, metronidazole and vancomycin) is often used as a pilot study before processing with full axenization.