Effects of Microgravity on the Virulence of <i>Listeria monocytogenes, Enterococcus faecalis, Candida albicans,</i> and Methicillin-Resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>

Hammond, Timothy G.; Stodieck, Louis S.; Birdsall, Holly H.; Becker, Jeanne L.; Koenig, Paul; Hammond, Jeffrey; Gunter, Margaret A.; Allen, Patricia

doi:10.1089/ast.2013.0986

Cited by 57 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In a virulence study by Hammond et al (2013), 3 bonafide bacterial pathogens, Listeria monocytogenes , methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Enterococcus faecalis , were exposed to spaceflight (actual microgravity) or LSMMG (generated using a clinostat) and compared to ground normal gravity (NG) controls in their ability to kill larval and adult wild type Caenorhabditis elegans ( C. elegans ). Nematodes and pathogens were mixed and then co-cultured for 48 hours during which bacterial virulence was measured by evaluating nematode mortality.…”

Section: Spaceflight Experiments and Their Inherent Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, this was the first experiment that assayed virulence of bacterial pathogens in space (true microgravity environment). Interestingly, when the group characterized the LSMMG effect, the decrease in the virulence of all 3 pathogens was less pronounced, but the general trend of no observed hyperviruelnce was maintained (Hammond et al 2013). Despite this study advancing the field of space microbiology by employing a spaceflight (true microgravity) infection system, most virulence studies employing C. elegans involve excessive biofilm production resulting in starvation and or GI infections (Balla and Troemel 2013).…”

Section: Spaceflight Experiments and Their Inherent Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, unlike the salmonellae which exhibited hypervirulence phenotype in the murine model of infection (Nickerson et al 2000; Chopra et al 2006), the S. aureus response to LSMMG resembled that of the yersiniae (Lawal et al 2010), resulting in diminished virulence potential, as observed by increased sensitivity to oxidative-stress (Castro et al 2011). In an asynchronous ground-based LSMMG study (coupled to the spaceflight study), clinorotation of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) did not result in alterations of virulence in a C. elegans infection model system measuring nematode cytotoxicity (Hammond et al 2013). In the same report, clinoroatation was also used to co-culture L. moncytogenes or E. faecalis with C. elegans larval or adult nematodes.…”

Section: The Need For Inexpensive Ground-based Alternatives To Spacefmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the same report, clinoroatation was also used to co-culture L. moncytogenes or E. faecalis with C. elegans larval or adult nematodes. Whereas E. faecalis exhibited hypovirulence when infecting larval C. elegans (but not adults), L. monocytogenes experienced no significant change in its virulence using the same infection model system (Hammond et al 2013). …”

Section: The Need For Inexpensive Ground-based Alternatives To Spacefmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Low-shear force associated with modeled microgravity and spaceflight does not similarly impact the virulence of notable bacterial pathogens

Rosenzweig

Ahmed

Eunson

et al. 2014

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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As their environments change, microbes experience various threats and stressors, and in the hyper-competitive microbial world, dynamism and the ability to rapidly respond to such changes allow microbes to outcompete their nutrient-seeking neighbors. Viewed in that light, the very difference between microbial life and death depends on effective stress-response mechanisms. In addition to the more commonly studied temperature, nutritional, and chemical stressors, research has begun to characterize microbial responses to physical stress, namely low-shear stress. In fact, microbial responses to low shear modeled microgravity (LSMMG), which emulates the microgravity experienced in space, have been studied quite widely in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interestingly, LSMMG-induced changes in the virulence potential of several Gram-negative enteric bacteria, e.g., an increased enterotoxigenic Eschericia coli-mediated fluid secretion in ligated ileal loops of mice, an increased adherent invasive E. coli-mediated infectivity of Caco-2 cells, an increased Salmonella Typhimurium-mediated invasion of both epithelial and macrophage cells, and S. Typhimurium hypervirulence phenotype in BALB/c mice when infected by the intraperitoneal route. Although these were some examples where virulence of the bacteria was increased, there are instances where organisms became less virulent under LSMMG, e.g., hypovirulence of Yersinia pestis in cell culture infections and hypovirulence of methicillin-resistant-Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, and Listeria monocytogenes in a Caenorhabditis elegans infection model. In general, a number of LSMMG-exposed bacteria (but not all) seemed better equipped to handle subsequent stressors such as osmotic shock, acid shock, heat shock, and exposure to chemotherapeutics. This mini-review primarily discusses both LSMMG-induced as well as bonafide spaceflight-specific alterations in bacterial virulence potential, demonstrating that pathogens' responses to low-shear forces vary dramatically. Ultimately, a careful characterization of numerous bacterial pathogens' responses to low shear forces is necessary to evaluate a more complete picture of how this physical stress impacts bacterial virulence since a “one-size-fits-all” response is clearly not the case.

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Section: Spaceflight Experiments and Their Inherent Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Spaceflight Experiments and Their Inherent Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Need For Inexpensive Ground-based Alternatives To Spacefmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Need For Inexpensive Ground-based Alternatives To Spacefmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Low-shear force associated with modeled microgravity and spaceflight does not similarly impact the virulence of notable bacterial pathogens

Rosenzweig

Ahmed

Eunson

et al. 2014

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Humans are by no means sterile when they travel into orbit, they carry with them a microbiome teeming with life that, in the case of the ISS, interacts with and contributes to the environmental microbiome that has established and built up over the past 16 years. Early surveys of microbial taxa found on the ISS have revealed, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the collective microbial community on the station is likely to not be dissimilar to built environments found on Earth, although microgravity does alter the growth dynamics and physiological properties of some species [2][3][4] . However, despite some foundational work, our understanding of the impact of prolonged exposure to microgravity on microbial physiology, and in particular the effects on the human microbiome and how human-microorganism interactions change over time, remains extremely limited.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%