Physiological interactions of Salmonella and the intestinal microbiota

对细菌病原体的保护是肠道微生物群赋予宿主的最重要的共生功能之一。许多本土微生物的有效营养竞争是这种保护作用的生态基础。反过来，肠道生态的紊乱，如抗生素治疗，会导致营养生态位空缺，为食源性病原体提供定植机会，从而导致炎症，进一步利用肠道中改变的营养可获得性。因此，底物的使用和在不同微生物区系成员和传入病原体之间的分配是肠道生态系统中微生物生态位分离的基础，但仍不够清楚。这一联合项目旨在详细了解单个微生物组成员与食源性病原体沙门氏菌之间的生理相互作用，并确定保护性微生物。这项研究的发现将有助于未来的治疗，通过定义微生物的代谢特性和生理条件，防止定植或促进病原体的清除。

Protection against bacterial pathogens is one of the most important symbiotic functions that the diverse intestinal microbiota confers to its host. Efficient nutrient competition of the many indigenous microorganisms is an ecological foundation of this protective effect. In return, disturbances in intestinal ecology, such as by antibiotic therapy, lead to vacant nutritional niches that provide colonization opportunities for foodborne pathogens, which subsequently cause inflammation to even further leverage the altered nutrient availability in the gut. Substrate use and partitioning among the different microbiota members and incoming pathogens is thus fundamental to microbial niche segregation in the intestinal ecosystem, but still insufficiently understood. This joint project aims to provide a detailed understanding of the physiological interactions between individual microbiota members and the foodborne pathogen Salmonella, and to identify protective microorganisms. Findings from this research will contribute to future therapies by defining microbial metabolic properties and physiological conditions that prevent colonization or promote clearance of the pathogen.