Gut microbes fend off harmful bacteria by depriving them of nutrients

Pamer, Eric G.

doi:10.1038/d41586-024-02803-w

NEWS AND VIEWS
18 September 2024

Gut microbes fend off harmful bacteria by depriving them of nutrients

Microorganisms that normally reside in the gut can help to block microbial infection. A group of bacteria that lives in the human gut has been identified that can consume a nutrient needed by pathogenic bacteria.

Eric G. Pamer⁰

Eric G. Pamer
1. Eric G. Pamer is at the Duchossois Family Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
View author publications

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Access through your institution

Buy or subscribe

Membership of the group of microbes that lives in the gut, known as the intestinal microbiota, is remarkably exclusive, with new arrivals usually rejected by a process referred to as colonization resistance. Loss of microbiotal diversity, commonly the result of antibiotic treatment, compromises colonization resistance and enables potentially harmful species, such as the bacterial pathogen Klebsiella pneumoniae and other species belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family, to invade the gut and reach high densities¹. Re-establishing colonization resistance is therefore an important clinical goal. Writing in Nature, Furuichi et al.² reveal how a group of bacteria normally resident in the gut (commensal bacteria) can suppress gut colonization by K. pneumoniae through nutrient depletion.

Access options

Access through your institution

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 633, 774-775 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02803-w

References

Spragge, F. et al. Science 382, eadj3502 (2023).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Furuichi, M. et al. Nature 633, 878–886 (2024).
Article Google Scholar
Stoma, I. et al. Clin. Infect. Dis. 73, e4627–e4635 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Brugiroux, S. et al. Nature Microbiol. 2, 16215 (2016).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Sorbara, M. T. et al. J. Exp. Med. 216, 84–98 (2019).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Yip, A. Y. G. et al. Nature Commun. 14, 5094 (2023).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Oliveira, R. A. et al. Nature Microbiol. 5, 630–641 (2020).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Eberl, C. et al. Cell Host Microbe 29, 1680–1692 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Osbelt, L. et al. Cell Host Microbe 29, 1663–1679 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar