Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Microbiome

A gut fungus protects the liver

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 23, page 405 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

The human gut harbours a vast community of bacteria, fungi, archaea and viruses, collectively known as the human microbiota. It is well-established that the microbiota has a crucial role in host health and disease, for example via the production of metabolites that shape host physiology. In contrast to the bacterial members, our knowledge of the contributions of fungi and their compounds to host function, host health and diseases as well as the underlying mechanisms are elusive. To fill this knowledge gap, Zhou et al. developed a new culture method that enables cultivation of previously unculturable gut fungal species. Using this system, they showed that filamentous Fusarium spp. fungi are common colonizers of the gut. Importantly, they found that the fungi produce a secondary metabolite that protects against metabolic disease in mice.

Next, the authors set out to establish whether the fungi are transient residents or whether they can adapt to the intestinal environment for colonization. They showed that the fungi can grow at 37 °C and under anaerobic conditions, which suggests that F. foetens can colonize the colon. In agreement with this, the gavage of germ-free mice with F. foetens gut isolates led to the enrichment of the fungus in colon contents, but only low levels were detected in other parts of the gut and it was not detected in other host tissues or in the plasma.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

Original article

  • Zhou, S. et al. A symbiotic filamentous gut fungus ameliorates MASH via a secondary metabolite–CerS6–ceramide axis. Science 388, eadp5540 (2025)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Reviews Microbiology http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/

    Andrea Du Toit

Authors
  1. Andrea Du Toit
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrea Du Toit.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Du Toit, A. A gut fungus protects the liver. Nat Rev Microbiol 23, 405 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01194-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01194-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing