Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 14 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01262-yThe gut microbiome can influence brain activity and complex behaviours. In this Review, Griffiths et al. discuss microbiome-associated effects on social behaviour in laboratory model organisms, free-living animals and humans, and consider potential mechanistic pathways.

The microbial metabolite p-cresol and p-cresol sulfate accumulate in brainstem and inhibit TH and DBH, key enzymes in catecholamine synthesis. This disruption alters brain function and behavior, ...

Taku Shimada and colleagues show that socially parasitic queens of two ant species spray their respective host queens with chemical signals that trigger host workers to kill the resident queen.

During menstruation, an inner layer of the endometrium is selectively shed, while an outer, progenitor-containing layer is preserved to support repeated regeneration. Progress in understanding this co...

Infant feeding plays a crucial role in microbial colonization, immune maturation, and development. Human milk is a bioactive system comprising biologics that shape the infant gut microbiome and suppor...

Comparative analyses of 163 ant genomes reveal extensive genome rearrangements, context-specific gene family expansion patterns, and selection on conserved pathways that together underpin the evolutio...

The gut microbiota influences human and animal cognition and behaviour through its effects on the endocrine and immune systems. The microbiome–behaviour relationship may be especially relevant for fish, due to their diverse evolutionary history and ...

Re-examination of the presumed Cambrian fossil fish Anatolepis reveals previous misidentification of aglaspidid sensory structures as dentine, a vertebrate sensory tissue, showing it to be a...

Borak et al. reveal that male mice can infer the dominance status of unfamiliar opponents using scalable chemosensory cues. Sensory ablation experiments demonstrate that both olfactory and vomeronasal...

Scientific Reports - Perinatal exposure to the autism-linked metabolite p-Cresol has limited impact on early development in mice but lasting effects on adult social behavior

Paired transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility profiling are used to examine the developmental trajectories of neuronal populations in the hypothalamic preoptic region, including cell types with ke...

Paired transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility profiling are used to examine the developmental trajectories of neuronal populations in the hypothalamic preoptic region, including cell types with ke...

New data on brain-wide circuits centred around two interconnected hypothalamic neuron populations provide significant mechanistic insights into the emergence of social need during social isolation and...

Goto et al. measure the pulsatile activity of the reproductive center in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus during puberty in female mice. They discover that food availability rapidly and bidirectionall...

Reports of proteins in fossilized bones have been a subject of controversy in the scientific literature because it is assumed that fossilization results in the destruction of all organic components. In this paper, a novel combination of analytical techniques is used to address this question for an exceptionally well-preserved Edmontosaurus sacrum excavated from the Upper Cretaceous strata of the South Dakota Hell Creek Formation. Cross-polarized light microscopy (XPol) shows birefringence consistent with collagen presence. Tandem LC-MS unambiguously identified, and for the first time quantified, hydroxyproline, a unique collagen-indicator amino acid, in acid-digested samples from the Edmontosaurus. LC-MS/MS bottom-up proteomics shows identical collagen peptide sequences previously identified and reported for another hadrosaur and a T. rex sample.

Alterations in bile acid profile and pathways contribute to hepatic inflammation in cancer cachexia, a syndrome worsening the prognosis of cancer patients. As the gut microbiota impinges on host me...

Maltese et al. show in mice that experiencing an adverse event affects future interaction with others experiencing the same stressor. These self-experience socioemotional reactions are orchestrated by...

Jiang et al. identified distinct gut microbiota profiles in healthy individuals and patients with shingles or postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). They developed a metagenomics-based model to assess PHN risk and showed that Roseburia intestinalis produces butyrate to alleviate pain by activating vagal nerves, suppressing pain-related brain regions in animal models.

Background The gut microbiota has a profound effect on immunity and metabolic status of the host, which has increasingly attracted research communities. However, the intrinsic mechanism underlying the...

In a rigorous 40-month study, we evaluated the geroprotective effects of metformin on adult male cynomolgus monkeys, addressing a gap in primate aging…

GLP-1R agonists may reduce cardiometabolic complications in part through reduction of inflammation. Here we show, using pharmacology and genetics, that the anti-inflammatory actions of GLP-1RAs to reduce TLR-mediated inflammation require CNS GLP-1R signaling.