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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbial Symbioses
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1459795
This article is part of the Research Topic Interspecific Microbial Communications: A Fundamental Driving Force Shaping Pathogenesis, Symbiosis, and Ecosystems View all articles

Bacterial metabolites influence the autofluorescence of Clostridioides difficile

Provisionally accepted
Taylor D. Ticer Taylor D. Ticer 1Janiece Glover Janiece Glover 1Sarah A. Dooley Sarah A. Dooley 1Jacob Kendrick Jacob Kendrick 1Joseph P. Zackular Joseph P. Zackular 2Suzanne Devkota Suzanne Devkota 3Gary D. Wu Gary D. Wu 2Karley Mahalak Karley Mahalak 4Amy Engevik Amy Engevik 1Melinda A. Engevik Melinda A. Engevik 1*
  • 1 Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States
  • 2 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
  • 3 Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • 4 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Washington, District of Columbia, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Clostridioides difficile is bacterial pathogen that has been implicated in severe gastrointestinal infections. C. difficile has intrinsic green autofluorescence and the level of this autofluorescence is known to be increased by growth time and oxygen. Currently, it is unclear if dietary compounds or metabolites from the gut microbiota are able to enhance C. difficile autofluorescence. Here, we aimed to determine potential factors that affect C. difficile autofluorescence. After screening a large repertoire of compounds, we identified several substances, like L-lysine and pantothenate, that led to an increased C. difficile autofluorescence. We also found that several members of the gut microbiota, such as Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella aerogenes and K. pneumoniae, can increase C. difficile autofluorescence through their secreted compounds. We further focused on the effect of K. pneumoniae on C. difficile autofluorescence and found that multiple enteric strains of K. pneumoniae could enhance C. difficile's autofluorescence. We further used this enhanced autofluorescence to identify C. difficile in K. pneumoniae co-cultures by flow cytometry. Our findings shed light on the relationship between C. difficile and other members of the gut microbiota, as well as different factors that can affect C. difficile autofluorescence.

    Keywords: Clostridioides difficile, Klebsiella pneumoniae, autofluorescence, Metabolites, intestine

    Received: 04 Jul 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ticer, Glover, Dooley, Kendrick, Zackular, Devkota, Wu, Mahalak, Engevik and Engevik. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Melinda A. Engevik, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.