Acetate modulates the inhibitory effect of Lactobacillus gasseri against the pathogenic yeasts Candida albicans and Candida glabrata
Authors:Nuno A. Pedro1,2, Gabriela Fontebasso1,2, Sandra N. Pinto1,2, Marta Alves3 and Nuno P. Mira1,2
doi: 10.15698/mic2023.04.795
Volume 10, pp. 88 to 102, published 21/03/2023.
1 iBB, Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico – Department of Bioengineering, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal.
2 Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal.
3 CQE-Centro Química Estrutural, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal.
Keywords:
lactobacilii-Candida interference, vaginal lactobacilii, vaginal candidiasis, probiotics, lactobacillus gasseri, candida phyiology.
Corresponding Author(s):
Conflict of interest statement:
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Please cite this article as:
Nuno A. Pedro, Gabriela Fontebasso, Sandra N Pinto, Marta Alves and Nuno P Mira (2023). Acetate modulates the inhibi-tory effect of Lactobacillus gasseri against the pathogenic yeasts Candida albicans and Candida glabrata. Microbial Cell 10(4): 88-102. doi: 10.15698/mic2023.04.795
© 2023 Pedro et al. This is an open-access article released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are acknowledged.
Abstract:
The exploration of the interference prompted by commensal bacteria over fungal pathogens is an interesting alternative to develop new therapies. In this work we scrutinized how the presence of the poorly studied vaginal species Lactobacillus gasseri affects relevant pathophysiological traits of Candida albicans and Candida glabrata. L. gasseri was found to form mixed biofilms with C. albicans and C. glabrata resulting in pronounced death of the yeast cells, while bacterial viability was not affected. Reduced viability of the two yeasts was also observed upon co-cultivation with L. gasseri under planktonic conditions. Either in planktonic cultures or in biofilms, the anti-Candida effect of L. gasseri was augmented by acetate in a concentration-dependent manner. During planktonic co-cultivation the two Candida species counteracted the acidification prompted by L. gasseri thus impacting the balance between dissociated and undissociated organic acids. This feature couldn’t be phenocopied in single-cultures of L. gasseri resulting in a broth enriched in acetic acid, while in the co-culture the non-toxic acetate prevailed. Altogether the results herein described advance the design of new anti-Candida therapies based on probiotics, in particular, those based on vaginal lactobacilli species, helping to reduce the significant burden that infections caused by Candida have today in human health.