Gut microbiota generate dinitrosyl iron complexes with cardiometabolic benefits.

Gut microbes in conventional mice convert dietary nitrate and non-heme iron into mobile dinitrosyl iron complexes (DNICs), detected in tissues with cardiometabolic benefits.

• Why it matters: The mechanism linking gut bacteria to host cardiometabolic physiology is unclear, limiting targeted strategies to improve metabolic health.
• What they did: Electron paramagnetic resonance detected DNICs in conventional but not germ-free mice; feces and Escherichia coli generated DNICs from nitrate and iron citrate, unlike a nitrate-reductase-deficient mutant.
• The result: Nitrate+iron citrate or synthetic DNICs increased tissue DNIC levels and ameliorated Western diet-fed mouse cardiometabolic dysfunction, while DNIC reduced fatty acid-induced steatosis in HepG2 cells and human hepatocyte spheroids.

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