PlumX Metrics
Embed PlumX Metrics

The gut bacterial community potentiates Clostridioides difficile infection severity

bioRxiv, ISSN: 2692-8205
2022
  • 2
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 0
    Captures
  • 1
    Mentions
  • 0
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    2
    • Citation Indexes
      2
      • CrossRef
        2
  • Mentions
    1
    • Blog Mentions
      1
      • Blog
        1

Article Description

The severity of Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI) has increased over the last few decades. Patient age, white blood cell count, creatinine levels as well as C. difficile ribotype and toxin genes have been associated with disease severity. However, it is unclear whether there is an association between members of the gut microbiota and disease severity. The gut microbiota is known to interact with C. difficile during infection. Perturbations to the gut microbiota are necessary for C. difficile to colonize the gut. The gut microbiota can inhibit C. difficile colonization through bile acid metabolism, nutrient consumption and bacteriocin production. Here we sought to demonstrate that members of the gut bacterial communities can also contribute to disease severity. We derived diverse gut communities by colonizing germ-free mice with different human fecal communities. The mice were then infected with a single C. difficile ribotype 027 clinical isolate which resulted in moribundity and histopathologic differences. The variation in severity was associated with the human fecal community that the mice received. Generally, bacterial populations with pathogenic potential, such as Escherichia, Helicobacter, and Klebsiella, were associated with more severe outcomes. Bacterial groups associated with fiber degradation, bile acid metabolism and lantibiotic production, such as Anaerostipes and Coprobacillus, were associated with less severe outcomes. These data indicate that, in addition to the host and C. difficile, populations of gut bacteria can influence CDI disease severity.

Bibliographic Details

Nicholas A. Lesniak; Alyxandria M. Schubert; Kaitlyn J. Flynn; Jhansi L. Leslie; Hamide Sinani; Vincent B. Young; Patrick D. Schloss; Ingrid L. Bergin

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; Agricultural and Biological Sciences; Immunology and Microbiology; Neuroscience; Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics

Provide Feedback

Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know