Fig. 3: Dietary nucleic acids maintain small intestine natural IELs via IL-15.

a The absolute cell numbers of small intestinal IELs from the indicated BM chimeras of WT BM cells into irradiated WT or Mavs^−/−Sting^gt/gt mice, or of Mavs^−/−Sting^gt/gt BM cells into irradiated WT or Mavs^−/−Sting^gt/gt mice, n = 5. b Quantification of the expression of Il15 at the mRNA level by qPCR or protein level by ELISA in the small intestine from WT or Mavs^−/−Sting^gt/gt mice intravenously injected with AdV-EV or AdV-IL-15 adenovirus, n = 5. c–e Representative flow plots (c) or cell percentages (d) and cell numbers (e) of small intestinal IELs from Mavs^−/−Sting^gt/gt mice treated with AdV-EV or AdV-IL-15 adenovirus, n = 5. f Quantification of the expression of Il15 at the mRNA level by qPCR or protein level by ELISA in the small intestine from C57BL/6 mice fed ND or PD with or without supplement of 0.5% purified nucleic acids, n = 8. g Quantification of the expression of Il15 at the mRNA level by qPCR or protein level by ELISA in the small intestine from C57BL/6 mice that were pre-fed ND or PD, and then intravenously injected with or without AdV-EV or AdV-IL-15 adenovirus, n = 5. h–j Representative flow plots (h) or cell percentages (i) and cell numbers (j) of small intestinal IELs from C57BL/6 mice that were fed PD and treated with AdV-EV or AdV-IL-15 adenovirus, n = 5. Data are mean ± s.e.m. and from one experiment representative of two (a, b, f, g) or three independent experiments (c–e, h–j). Statistics: one-way ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni post hoc test (a, b, d–g, i, j). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.