Figure 4(A) Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (qRT-PCR) analysis of the differential abundance of selected bacterial taxa in stool samples of ileum and colon of Villin-Cre and COPS8-lox alleles expressing (COPS8fl/fl ) and COPS8 knockout (KO) (COPS8ΔIEC) mice. Error bars indicate the mean ± SD from three biological replicates per genotype. **P<0.01, NS- nonsignificant using Student's t-test. ( (B) qRT-PCR analysis of the abundance of luminal and mucosal bacteria in ileum (top) and cecum (bottom) of COPS8fl/fl and COPS8ΔIEC mice. Error bars indicate the mean ± SD from three biological replicates per genotype. *P<0.05, NS- nonsignificant using Student's t-test. (C) Scanning electron microscopy of ileum of COPS8fl/fl and COPS8ΔIEC mice. Scale bar 50 μm, representative data from three biological replicates per genotype. Mice were treated by 2% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in drinking water for 7 days. (D) Survival curves of COPS8fl/fl and COPS8ΔIEC mice during DSS-induced colitis. Difference in survival was determined with Kaplan-Meier analysis, **P<0.01. Representative data from 20 biological replicates per genotype. ( Mice were treated by 2% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in drinking water for 7 days. (E) Changes in body weight are presented as percent of initial weight was determined using Mann-Whitney test, *P<0.05. Representative data from 20 biological replicates per genotype. Mice were treated by 2% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in drinking water for 7 days. (F) Representative hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stained sections of colon and cecum from COPS8fl/fl and COPS8ΔIEC mice after DSS-indcued colitis (day 9). Scale bar 100μm, representative data from five biological replicates per genotype. (G) Histopathologically scored sections of distal colon; cecum and colon length were analyzed from COPS8fl/fl and COPS8ΔIEC mice after DSS-indcued colitis (day 7). Data are represented as mean ± SEM from five biological replicates per genotype. **P<0.01 using Student's t-test. ( Mice were treated by 2% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in drinking water for 7 days. (H) Cytokine levels (interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)) in the colon collected on day 7 in colitis induced COPS8fl/fl and COPS8ΔIEC mice. Data are represented as mean ± SEM from five biological replicates per genotype. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, NS- non-significant using Student's t-test. Mice were treated by 2% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in drinking water for 7 days. (I) The frequency of CD11b+Ly6C+ and CD11b+Ly6G+ cells in colonic lamina propria (cLP) of COPS8fl/fl and or COPS8ΔIEC mice with DSS-induced colitis. The column graph represents percentage of Ly6C+ and Ly6G+ cells, presented as mean ± SEM from three biological replicates per genotype. *P<0.05, NS- non-significant using Student's t-test. (J) Representative FACS plots and percentage of intracellular staining of Forkhead box protein P3 (FOXP3), Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and IL-17A in CD3+CD4+ T cells from colonic lamina propria of COPS8fl/fl or COPS8ΔIEC mice with DSS-induced colitis. The column graph represents percentage of Treg+ and ratio of Th1/Th17 cells, represented as mean ± SEM from three biological replicates per genotype. *P<0.05 using Student's t-test.