Commensal gut bacteria prevent severe intestinal infections VUMC reporter

Author: Leigh Macmillan

Diarrheal diseases are the leading cause of death among children worldwide, killing approximately 800,000 children under the age of 5 each year.

A variety of different pathogens, including pathogenic E. coli , can cause diarrhea and gastroenteritis. Most E. coli studies in mouse models require pretreatment with antibiotics, which kill commensal bacteria in the gut (gut microbiota) and eliminate the role they may play in the infection process.

To explore the role of gut microbiota during intestinal infections, Danyvid Olivares-VillagomezDr. and colleagues studied mice infected with Citrobacter rodentium, a pathogen similar to E. coli that does not require antibiotic pretreatment.

They found that mice lacking the commensal bacterium Haeutrichella sanguineum had an increased likelihood of developing severe disease. Colonization of these mice with Haemolytica reduced susceptibility to severe infection.

The research results are reported in Infection and Immunitydemonstrated that the presence of T. sanguinis in the intestinal microbiota enhanced protection against severe C. rodentium infection.

In studies reported by others in young children with diarrhea and acute gastroenteritis, increased abundance of Turicibacter species in fecal samples was associated with healthy controls, supporting a potential association between Turicibacter and reduced susceptibility to diarrheal disease. . The authors note that the introduction of Turicibacter may be a therapeutic approach to prevent severe intestinal infections.

Authors of the report include Kristen Hoek, Ph.D., Kathleen McClanahan, Yvonne Latour, Nicolas Shealy, M. Blanca Piazuelo, M.D., Bruce Vallance, Ph.D., Mariana Byndloss, Ph.D., and Keith Wilson, M.D. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01DK111671, R01DK128200, T32GM008554, P30DK058404) and the National Science Foundation (grant 1937963).