Abstract
While Koch’s Postulates have established rules for microbial pathogenesis that have been extremely beneficial for monomicrobial infections, new studies regarding polymicrobial pathogenesis defy these standards. The explosion of phylogenetic sequence data has revolutionized concepts of microbial interactions on and within the host. However, there remains a paucity of functional follow-up studies to delineate mechanisms driven by such interactions and how they shape health or disease. That said, one particular microbial pairing, the fungal opportunist Candida albicans and the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, has received much attention over the last decade. Therefore, the objective of this review is to discuss the multi-faceted mechanisms employed by these two ubiquitous human pathogens during polymicrobial growth, including how they: establish and persist in inter-Kingdom biofilms, tolerate antimicrobial therapy, co-invade host tissue, exacerbate quorum sensing and staphylococcal toxin production, and elicit infectious synergism. Commentary regarding new challenges and remaining questions related to future discovery of this fascinating fungal–bacterial interaction is also provided.
Highlights
While Koch’s Postulates have established rules for microbial pathogenesis that have been extremely beneficial for monomicrobial infections, new studies regarding polymicrobial pathogenesis defy these standards
C. albicans was recovered from the denture surface, while S. aureus was found predominantly in the oral mucosa of denture stomatitis cases. These results suggest that C. albicans may facilitate colonization of
This study showed that a yeast-locked C. albicans strain had no defect in promoting lethal synergism with S. aureus during polymicrobial Intra-abdominal infections (IAI) as compared to co-infection with a wild-type strain [65]
Summary
While Koch’s Postulates have established rules for microbial pathogenesis that have been extremely beneficial for monomicrobial infections, new studies regarding polymicrobial pathogenesis defy these standards. Despite the frequent violation of postulate 1, where healthy individuals often asymptomatically carry opportunistic microbes, Koch’s postulates have largely led to a global understanding of disease pathogenesis through the prism of a monomicrobial infection model. We know that microbes rarely exist as single species but are often part of complex polymicrobial communities consisting of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoans. While Koch’s Postulates have served the field of microbiology very well in its early stages, their utility in helping to understand the pathogenesis of polymicrobial infections is limited. We describe various interactions employed by polymicrobial communities and focus on the fungal pathogen Candida albicans and the bacterium
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