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Bacterial pathogenesis

Bacteria choose to fight and flee

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 12, pages 460–461 (2014)Cite this article

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The oral pathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans typically inhabits the gingival crevice, which is also home to oral commensal microorganisms, such as Streptococcus gordonii. Previous work had shown that S. gordonii produces L-lactate, which is the preferred carbon source for A. actinomycetemcomitans, and that co-infection with S. gordonii enhances the growth of A. actinomycetemcomitans in vivo. Thus, A. actinomycetemcomitans clearly benefits from co-infection; however, S. gordonii also exhibits competitive behaviour by producing high levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), so it was unclear how the pathogen persists and causes disease in the presence of this potent reactive oxygen species (ROS).

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References

  1. Stacy, A. et al. Bacterial fight-and-flight responses enhance virulence in a polymicrobial infection. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1400586111 (2014)

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  1. Christina Tobin Kåhrström
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Kåhrström, C. Bacteria choose to fight and flee. Nat Rev Microbiol 12, 460–461 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3294

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3294

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