Intestinal Colonization Dynamics of Vibrio cholerae

Abstract

To cause the diarrheal disease cholera, Vibrio cholerae must effectively colonize the small intestine. In order to do so, the bacterium needs to successfully travel through the stomach and withstand the presence of agents such as bile and antimicrobial peptides in the intestinal lumen and mucus. The bacterial cells penetrate the viscous mucus layer covering the epithelium and attach and proliferate on its surface. In this review, we discuss recent developments and known aspects of the early stages of V. cholerae intestinal colonization and highlight areas that remain to be fully understood. We propose mechanisms and postulate a model that covers some of the steps that are required in order for the bacterium to efficiently colonize the human host. A deeper understanding of the colonization dynamics of V. cholerae and other intestinal pathogens will provide us with a variety of novel targets and strategies to avoid the diseases caused by these organisms.

Characterization of Vibrio cholerae isolates from 1976 to 2013 in Shandong Province, China

“…Larger numbers of clinical strains carried the ctxAB , tcpI and tcpA genes compared to environmental strains, supporting the fact that cholera toxin (CTX) and toxin coregulated pilus (TCP) are the principal virulence factors of V. cholerae 16 . Therefore, the low positive rates for ctxAB (64.3%) and tcpI (71.4%) in the isolates from after the year 2000 would likely be an influencing factor in the decline in cholera incidence rates (Table 1).…”

A Periplasmic Polymer Curves Vibrio cholerae and Promotes Pathogenesis

“…While bacteria can swim through the mucin matrix, its pore size decreases with depth, providing a barrier to bacterial colonization (Donaldson et al, 2016). Penetrating this mucin barrier is integral to cholera pathogenesis, and factors that promote mucin penetration increase virulence in V. cholerae (Almagro-Moreno et al, 2015). Our finding that straight Δ crvA cells were defective in motility-dependent mouse and rabbit cholera pathogenesis models (Figure 7B) is consistent with these observations, and with findings that some pathogens exploit helical curvature in colonization of mucus-coated surfaces.…”

The effects of inulin, dried Jerusalem artichoke tuber and a multispecies probiotic preparation on microbiota ecology and immune status of the large intestine in young pigs

“…These reactions are catalysed by β-glucuronidase and β-glucosidase (Desrouillères et al 2015). Mucinase activity should be also taken into consideration because it is involved in mucin degradation by pathogens, which directly affects the protective mucus layer (Sansonetti 2004;Almagro-Moreno et al 2015;Valeri et al 2015). To our knowledge, these enzymes have not been the subject of investigations performed on pigs, despite their important role in colon pathogenesis and possible implications in human medicine.…”