Abstract
Lactobacillus johnsonii is a probiotic bacterial species with broad antimicrobial properties; however, its antimicrobial activities against the pathobiont Candida albicans are underexplored. The aim of this study was to study the interactions of L. johnsonii with C. albicans and explore mechanisms of bacterial anti-fungal activities based on bacterial genomic characterization coupled with experimental data. We isolated an L. johnsonii strain (MT4) from the oral cavity of mice and characterized its effect on C. albicans growth in the planktonic and biofilm states. We also identified key genetic and phenotypic traits that may be associated with a growth inhibitory activity exhibited against C. albicans. We found that L. johnsonii MT4 displays pH-dependent and pH-independent antagonistic interactions against C. albicans, resulting in inhibition of C. albicans planktonic growth and biofilm formation. This antagonism is influenced by nutrient availability and the production of soluble metabolites with anticandidal activity.
Highlights
Candida albicans is the most common opportunistic fungal pathogen in immunocompromised hosts (Pfaller and Diekema, 2010; Pfaller et al, 2019)
All but 1 contig were classified as L. johnsonii, with a single contig classified as L. crispatus based on the Kraken2 results (Supplementary Table 1)
We showed that, like other Lactobacillus species (Kang et al, 2018; Jang et al, 2019; Scillato et al, 2021), L. johnsonii displays anticandidal properties, reducing C. albicans growth and ability to transition into hyphae and establish biofilms on abiotic surfaces
Summary
Candida albicans is the most common opportunistic fungal pathogen in immunocompromised hosts (Pfaller and Diekema, 2010; Pfaller et al, 2019). It is a member of the mucosal microbiota at different body sites in health, under certain conditions, it can cause invasive mucosal infections (Pendleton et al, 2018). As the effectiveness of conventional antifungals is diminished, novel strategies are being developed, such as probiotic therapies (Mundula et al, 2019). In this regard, several species from the Lactobacillus complex genus have been studied
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