Cell Stem Cell. 2022 Feb 03. pii: S1934-5909(22)00009-1. [Epub ahead of print]29(2): 177-179
The mammalian microbiota is a recently recognized regulator of hematopoiesis. In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Zhang et al. (2022) show in mice that microbiota-derived butyrate enhances bone marrow macrophage erythrophagocytosis-dependent iron availability, which supports stress-induced hematopoietic stem cell differentiation and blood regeneration.