The Dynamics of Interacting Bacterial and Fungal Communities of the Mouse Colon Following Antibiotics.

The Dynamics of Interacting Bacterial and Fungal Communities of the Mouse Colon Following Antibiotics. Microb Ecol. 2020 May 25;: Authors: Nettles R, Ricks KD, Koide RT Abstract We tested two hypotheses concerning the dynamics of intestinal microbial communities of young mice following antibiotic-induced disturbance. The first is that disturbance of the bacterial community causes disturbance of the fungal community. Our results were consistent with that hypothesis. Antibiotics significantly altered bacterial community structure. Antibiotics also altered fungal community structure, significantly increasing the relative abundance of Candida lusitaniae, a known pathogen, while simultaneously significantly decreasing the relative abundances of several other common fungal species. The result was a temporary decrease in fungal diversity. Moreover, bacterial load was negatively correlated with the relative abundances of Candida lusitaniae and Candida parapsilosis, while it was positively correlated with the relative abundances of many other fungal species. Our second hypothesis is that control mice serve as a source of probiotics capable of invading intestines of mice with disturbed microbial communities and restoring pre-antibiotic bacterial and fungal communities. However, we found that control mice did not restore disturbed microbial communities. Instead, mice with disturbed microbial communities induced disturbance in control mice, cons...
Source: Microbial Ecology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Microb Ecol Source Type: research