Bacteriocin from epidemic Listeria strains alters the host intestinal microbiota to favor infection
Abstract
Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial pathogen responsible for listeriosis, a foodborne disease characterized by septicemia and abortion in pregnant women. The most severe listeriosis outbreaks are associated with a subset of bacterial epidemic clones, although the underlying virulence mechanisms of these clones remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate, to our knowledge for the first time, that these epidemic strains secrete a bacteriocin specifically in the gut and alter host intestinal microbiota, allowing L. monocytogenes colonization of the intestine and, consequently, invasion of deeper organs. Therefore, our work shows that epidemic listeriosis implicates not only interactions between L. monocytogenes and host cells, but also interactions between L. monocytogenes and the host intestinal microbiota that are critical for the establishment of infection.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- May 2016
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1523899113
- Bibcode:
- 2016PNAS..113.5706Q