Mechanisms of synergy in polymicrobial infections

Murray, Justine L.; Connell, Jodi L.; Stacy, Apollo; Turner, Keith H.; Whiteley, Marvin

doi:10.1007/s12275-014-4067-3

Cited by 161 publications

(154 citation statements)

References 118 publications

(138 reference statements)

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“…Community assembly has important implications for health and disease (2,3,7). For example, the capacity for a pathogen to establish itself in a given niche is likely to depend on the presence (or absence) of competing microbes (8)(9)(10)(11)(12), the timing of arrival, and the history of colonization events. Establishment will also be affected by host factors, including the immune system, the availability and quality of nutrients (their spatial and temporal distribution), and the physical structure and properties of tissues and surfaces.…”

Section: -John Muir My First Summer In the Sierramentioning

confidence: 99%

The Upper Respiratory Tract as a Microbial Source for Pulmonary Infections in Cystic Fibrosis. Parallels from Island Biogeography

Whiteson¹,

Bailey²,

Bergkessel

et al. 2014

Am J Respir Crit Care Med

100

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A continuously mixed series of microbial communities inhabits various points of the respiratory tract, with community composition determined by distance from colonization sources, colonization rates, and extinction rates. Ecology and evolution theory developed in the context of biogeography is relevant to clinical microbiology and could reframe the interpretation of recent studies comparing communities from lung explant samples, sputum samples, and oropharyngeal swabs. We propose an island biogeography model of the microbial communities inhabiting different niches in human airways. Island biogeography as applied to communities separated by time and space is a useful parallel for exploring microbial colonization of healthy and diseased lungs, with the potential to inform our understanding of microbial community dynamics and the relevance of microbes detected in different sample types. In this perspective, we focus on the intermixed microbial communities inhabiting different regions of the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis.

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Section: -John Muir My First Summer In the Sierramentioning

confidence: 99%

The Upper Respiratory Tract as a Microbial Source for Pulmonary Infections in Cystic Fibrosis. Parallels from Island Biogeography

Whiteson¹,

Bailey²,

Bergkessel

et al. 2014

Am J Respir Crit Care Med

100

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“…This is especially relevant in the context of polymicrobial infections, which display inherent resistance to traditional antibiotics (4). One promising method may be the development of therapeutics that target specific bacterial virulence factors, which have been proposed to reduce morbidity and mortality without promoting antimicrobial resistance through direct fitness selection.…”

Section: Host-pathogen-pathogen Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iron-Mediated Control of Pseudomonas aeruginosa-Staphylococcus aureus Interactions in the Cystic Fibrosis Lung

Barnabie

Whiteley

2015

J Bacteriol

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Communication is an important factor for bacterial survival, growth, and persistence. Much work has examined both inter-and intraspecies interactions and their effects on virulence. Now, researchers have begun to explore the ways in which host-modulated factors can impact bacterial interactions and subsequently affect patient outcomes. In this issue, two papers discuss how the host environment alters interactions between the pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, largely in the context of cystic fibrosis. MICROSCOPIC SOCIETY Just as macroscopic creatures must communicate in order to survive and thrive in the macroscopic world, so too do microorganisms "talk" with each other at the microscopic level. Instead of audio calls and visual cues, bacteria instead rely on the language of signaling molecules. As this method of cellular communication involves large numbers of cells coming to a "consensus" on subsequent group actions, researchers dubbed this behavior "quorum sensing." Classical quorum sensing has been largely focused on autoinduction, wherein a single species produces a signaling molecule unable to induce gene expression until the population grows to a threshold concentration. This phenomenon was first characterized in bioluminescence produced by Aliivibrio (formerly Vibrio) fischeri and has since been identified in a variety of clinically relevant human pathogens. More recent cell-cell communication research has revealed that other kinds of molecules, including metabolites and nutrients present in the growth environment, serve as cues that impact bacterial interactions (1-3). Additionally, interactions between different species have been found to occur in polymicrobial infections where they often form synergistic, virulence-enhancing relationships (4). MICRONUTRIENTS/MICROORGANISMSAs pathogenic bacteria prey upon their host as a living source of nourishment, it is not surprising that available nutrients in the host environment can have a major impact on microbial gene expression. It also follows, then, that such an important regulatory factor might also affect the ways in which bacteria interact within the host. Therefore, a key question is whether the in vitro systems primarily used to study microbial interactions provide relevant insights into the ways in which microbes interact in the host.This issue of the Journal of Bacteriology features two papers that explore the impact of host-provided nutrients further in the context of iron's ability to modulate Pseudomonas aeruginosa/Staphylococcus aureus interactions in the cystic fibrosis (CF) lung. Iron is a micronutrient vital for bacterial growth but relatively scarce in most infection sites, acting as a limiting factor (5). In contrast, iron levels have been found to be high in CF sputum and correlate negatively with patient outcomes (6). Additionally, pathogen lung colonization in CF patients displays a conserved pattern of succession, with S. aureus predominating early on before being displaced by P. aeruginosa (7). Although it has b...

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“…the interactive activity of two or more microbes that allows achievement of results otherwise not possible alone (reviewed in Murray et al 2014). For instance, co-infections in the otitis media by Haemophilus influenza and Moraxella catarrhalis appear to form stronger, more antibiotic-resistant biofilms, than when coinfecting with other bacteria, because of effective quorum sensing between them (Murray et al 2014). …”

Section: Single and Poly-microbial Invasionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasions of Host-Associated Microbiome Networks

Murall

Abbate

Touzel

et al. 2017

Networks of Invasion: Empirical Evidence and Case Studies

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International audienceThe study of biological invasions of ecological systems has much to offer research on within–host (WH) systems, particularly for understanding infections and developing therapies using biological agents. Thanks to the ground-work established in other fields, such as community ecology and evolutionary biology, and to modern methods of measurement and quantification, the study of microbiomes has quickly become a field at the forefront of modern systems biology. Investigations of host-associated microbiomes (e.g. for studying human health) are often centred on measuring and explaining the structure, functions and stability of these communities. This momentum promises to rapidly advance our understanding of ecological networks and their stability, resilience and resistance to invasions. However, intrinsic properties of host-associated microbiomes that differ from those of free-living systems present challenges to the development of a WH invasion ecology framework. The elucidation of principles underlying the invasibility of WH networks will ultimately help in the development of medical applications and help shape our understanding of human health and disease

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Mechanisms of synergy in polymicrobial infections

Cited by 161 publications

References 118 publications

The Upper Respiratory Tract as a Microbial Source for Pulmonary Infections in Cystic Fibrosis. Parallels from Island Biogeography

The Upper Respiratory Tract as a Microbial Source for Pulmonary Infections in Cystic Fibrosis. Parallels from Island Biogeography

Iron-Mediated Control of Pseudomonas aeruginosa-Staphylococcus aureus Interactions in the Cystic Fibrosis Lung

Invasions of Host-Associated Microbiome Networks

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