468 - Commensal Can Kill Cholera

This episode: Harmless gut microbes resist cholera with good
defense or better offense!


Download Episode (5.8 MB, 8.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces corchorusii


 


News item

 



Takeaways




The community of microbes in our guts is highly diverse,
yet generally they all coexist relatively peacefully.
Some pathogens can invade this community and cause
massive disruptions. Cholera is a disease caused by a
pathogen that injects its competing bacteria with toxins
and disrupts the health of the gut, leading to very
watery diarrhea that can quickly dehydrate victims.


 


This study found that some microbes commonly found
harmlessly existing in the gut can resist destruction by
the cholera pathogen. One of these resists by striking
back with its own toxin injection system; the other
creates a barrier of slime around itself that keeps the
invader's toxins from reaching it. Such resistant gut
microbes could help to reduce the threat of diseases such
as cholera.



 
Journal Paper:
Flaugnatti N, Isaac S, Lemos Rocha LF, Stutzmann S, Rendueles
O, Stoudmann C, Vesel N, Garcia-Garcera M, Buffet A, Sana TG,
Rocha EPC, Blokesch M. 2021. Human commensal gut
Proteobacteria withstand type VI secretion attacks through
immunity protein-independent mechanisms. Nat Commun 12:5751.




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com. Thanks for listening!


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