By subjecting mice to cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), a well-established model of abdominal polymicrobial bacterial infection that is most relevant for clinical sepsis,4,18 we found down-regulated mRNA expression of Alkbh5 in spleen, kidney, and brain of CLP mice (Fig. 1c and Supplementary Fig. 1b) and significant lower protein levels of ALKBH5 in neutrophils isolated from peripheral blood and peritoneal fluid of sepsis mice than that from sham-operated controls (Fig. 1d). This evidence concerns the gene ALKBH5 and bacterial infectious disease.