Altering host resistance to infections through microbial transplantation.

ABSTRACT: Host resistance to bacterial infections is thought to be dictated by host genetic factors. Infections by the natural murine enteric pathogen Citrobacter rodentium (used as a model of human enteropathogenic and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli infections) vary between mice strains, from mild self-resolving colonization in NIH Swiss mice to lethality in C3H/HeJ mice. However, no clear genetic component had been shown to be responsible for the differences observed with C. rodentium infections. Because the intestinal microbiota is important in regulating resistance to infection, and microbial composition is dependent on host genotype, it was tested whether variations in microbial composition between mouse strains contributed to differences in "host" susceptibility by transferring the microbiota of r

SUBMITTER: Willing BP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3203939 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature