Human skin commensals augment Staphylococcus aureus pathogenesis.

ABSTRACT: All bacterial infections occur within a polymicrobial environment, from which a pathogen population emerges to establish disease within a host. Emphasis has been placed on prevention of pathogen dominance by competing microflora acting as probiotics¹. Here we show that the virulence of the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus is augmented by native, polymicrobial, commensal skin flora and individual species acting as 'proinfectious agents'. The outcome is pathogen proliferation, but not commensal. Pathogenesis augmentation can be mediated by particulate cell wall peptidoglycan, reducing the S. aureus infectious dose by over 1,000-fold. This phenomenon occurs using a range of S. aureus strains and infection models and is not mediated by established receptor-mediated pathways incl

SUBMITTER: Boldock E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6207346 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature