Clostridioides difficile uses amino acids associated with gut microbial dysbiosis in a subset of patients with diarrhea.

ABSTRACT: The gut microbiota plays a critical role in pathogen defense. Studies using antibiotic-treated mice reveal mechanisms that increase susceptibility to Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), but risk factors associated with CDI in humans extend beyond antibiotic use. Here, we studied the dysbiotic gut microbiota of a subset of patients with diarrhea and modeled the gut microbiota of these patients by fecal transplantation into germ-free mice. When challenged with C. difficile, the germ-free mice transplanted with fecal samples from patients with dysbiotic microbial communities showed increased gut amino acid concentrations and greater susceptibility to CDI. A C. difficile mutant that was unable to use proline as an energy source was unable to robustly infect germ-free

SUBMITTER: Battaglioli EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6537101 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature