{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T15:09:38Z","timestamp":1788793778940,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788739200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"\n Objective<\/jats:title>\n To investigate the effects of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) on the gut fungal community in mice and its association with anxiety-like behaviors.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n C57BL\/6 male mice were randomly divided into a control group and a CUMS group, with 10 mice per group. The CUMS group was exposed to a 3-week regimen of chronic stressors (damp bedding, food and water deprivation, continuous light exposure, tail pinch, cage tilting, restraint, and forced swimming). Anxiety-like behaviors were assessed using the elevated plus maze (EPM) and open field test (OFT). Colonic contents were collected for ITS high-throughput sequencing. Alterations in the gut fungal community and their correlations with behavioral parameters were evaluated through \u03b1-diversity and \u03b2-diversity analyses, LEfSe differential analysis, Spearman correlation analysis and co-occurrence network analysis.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n Compared with the control group, the CUMS group showed significantly reduced percentage of open-arm entries and percentage of time spent in open arms in the EPM (\n P<\/jats:italic>\n &lt; 0.01 and\n P<\/jats:italic>\n &lt; 0.001, respectively), as well as decreased central entries in the OFT (\n P<\/jats:italic>\n &lt; 0.05), indicating successful induction of anxiety-like behaviors. \u03b1-Diversity analysis revealed lower Chao and Shannon indices in the CUMS group (\n P<\/jats:italic>\n &lt; 0.05). \u03b2-Diversity analysis demonstrated a marked separation in fungal community structure between the two groups (\n R<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.9420,\n P<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.001). Species composition and LEfSe analysis identified\n Kazachstania<\/jats:italic>\n as the absolutely dominant genus in the CUMS group (LDA score &gt; 5.5), with its relative abundance being highly significantly increased (\n P<\/jats:italic>\n &lt; 0.001), while the relative abundances of most other dominant genera (e.g.,\n Aspergillus, Scopulariopsis<\/jats:italic>\n , and\n Wallemia<\/jats:italic>\n ) were significantly decreased. Correlation analysis revealed that the enrichment levels of\n Aspergillus, Scopulariopsis<\/jats:italic>\n , and\n Wallemia<\/jats:italic>\n were positively correlated with fungal species diversity (\n P<\/jats:italic>\n &lt; 0.05), and these taxa also exhibited positive correlations with the reduction in anxiety-like behaviors. Co-occurrence network analysis indicated that\n Kazachstania<\/jats:italic>\n acted as the hub taxon with the highest connectivity within the network, exhibiting extensive niche antagonism against fungal taxa including\n Aspergillus, Scopulariopsis<\/jats:italic>\n , and\n Wallemia<\/jats:italic>\n in the community. In contrast, other fungal groups such as\n Aspergillus, Scopulariopsis<\/jats:italic>\n and\n Wallemia<\/jats:italic>\n showed pairwise positive co-occurrence relationships, forming a stable fungal subcommunity with internal synergistic interactions.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n \n This study firstly demonstrates that chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) induces profound ecological remodeling of the gut fungal community, characterized by the enrichment of\n Kazachstania<\/jats:italic>\n and suppression of other fungal genera. Combined with prior evidence, our results suggest CUMS enables\n Kazachstania<\/jats:italic>\n to become conditionally dominant as an opportunistic fungus. We hypothesize CUMS-mediated homeostatic disturbance facilitates pathological overgrowth of\n Kazachstania<\/jats:italic>\n , though this overgrowth does not directly exacerbate anxiety-like behaviors. By contrast,\n Aspergillus, Scopulariopsis<\/jats:italic>\n and\n Wallemia<\/jats:italic>\n may maintain intestinal homeostasis and alleviate anxiety-like phenotypes. These findings challenge the conventional view that fungal community dysbiosis is merely reflected by reduced diversity; instead, monotypic fungal dominance better mirrors pathological status. This work provides novel theoretical perspectives and research directions for exploring how CUMS shapes host health via gut mycobiota.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2026.1908564","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T14:27:26Z","timestamp":1788791246000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["CUMS alters behavioral phenotypes and gut mycobiota in mice"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yiyang","family":"Miao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Acupuncture and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinyuan","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Health and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tong","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Acupuncture and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xi","family":"Yi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Han","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Health and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e70088","DOI":"10.1002\/mbo3.70088","article-title":"Fungal-bacterial dysbiosis in IBD: microbial biomarkers of disease activity","volume":"14","author":"Arribas-Rodr\u00edguez","year":"2025","journal-title":"Microbiol. 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