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Scientific article
Open access
English

Commensal microbes provide first line defense against Listeria monocytogenes infection

Published inJournal of Experimental Medicine, vol. 214, no. 7, p. 1973-1989
Publication date2017
Abstract

Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that causes septicemia, meningitis and chorioamnionitis and is associated with high mortality. Immunocompetent humans and animals, however, can tolerate high doses of L. monocytogenes without developing systemic disease. The intestinal microbiota provides colonization resistance against many orally acquired pathogens, and antibiotic-mediated depletion of the microbiota reduces host resistance to infection. Here we show that a diverse microbiota markedly reduces Listeria monocytogenes colonization of the gut lumen and prevents systemic dissemination. Antibiotic administration to mice before low dose oral inoculation increases L. monocytogenes growth in the intestine. In immunodeficient or chemotherapy-treated mice, the intestinal microbiota provides nonredundant defense against lethal, disseminated infection. We have assembled a consortium of commensal bacteria belonging to the Clostridiales order, which exerts in vitro antilisterial activity and confers in vivo resistance upon transfer into germ free mice. Thus, we demonstrate a defensive role of the gut microbiota against Listeria monocytogenes infection and identify intestinal commensal species that, by enhancing resistance against this pathogen, represent potential probiotics.

Keywords
  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents/administration & dosage/pharmacology
  • Antibiosis/drug effects
  • Feces/microbiology
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome/physiology
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions/genetics
  • Humans
  • Immunocompromised Host
  • Intestines/drug effects/microbiology
  • Listeria monocytogenes/drug effects/physiology
  • Listeriosis/genetics/microbiology/mortality
  • Mice
  • Inbred C57BL
  • Mice
  • Knockout
  • Survival Analysis
  • Survival Rate
  • Time Factors
Affiliation Not a UNIGE publication
Citation (ISO format)
BECATTINI, Simone et al. Commensal microbes provide first line defense against Listeria monocytogenes infection. In: Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2017, vol. 214, n° 7, p. 1973–1989. doi: 10.1084/jem.20170495
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Article (Published version)
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal0022-1007
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117downloads

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