ABSTRACT
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), which include ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), cause chronic inflammation of the gut, affecting millions of people worldwide. IBDs have been frequently associated with an alteration of the gut microbiota, termed dysbiosis, which is generally characterized by an increase in abundance of Proteobacteria such as Escherichia coli, and a decrease in abundance of Firmicutes such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (an indicator of a healthy colonic microbiota). The mechanisms behind the development of IBDs and dysbiosis are incompletely understood. Using samples from colonic biopsies, we studied the mucosa-associated intestinal microbiota in Chilean and Spanish patients with IBD. In agreement with previous studies, microbiome comparison between IBD patients and non-IBD controls indicated that dysbiosis in these patients is characterized by an increase of pro-inflammatory bacteria (mostly Proteobacteria) and a decrease of commensal beneficial bacteria (mostly Firmicutes). Notably, bacteria typically residing on the mucosa of healthy individuals were mostly obligate anaerobes, whereas in the inflamed mucosa an increase of facultative anaerobe and aerobic bacteria was observed. We also identify potential co-occurring and mutually exclusive interactions between bacteria associated with the healthy and inflamed mucosa, which appear to be determined by the oxygen availability and the type of respiration. Finally, we identified a panel of bacterial biomarkers that allow the discrimination between eubiosis from dysbiosis with a high diagnostic performance (96% accurately), which could be used for the development of non-invasive diagnostic methods. Thus, this study is a step forward towards understanding the landscapes and alterations of mucosa-associated intestinal microbiota in patients with IBDs.
ABSTRACT
Listeria monocytogenes causes severe diseases in humans, including febrile gastroenteritis and systemic infections that has a high mortality despite antibiotic treatment. This pathogen may cause massive outbreaks associated to the consumption of contaminated food products, which highlight its importance in public health. In the last decade, L. monocytogenes has emerged as a foodborne pathogen of major importance in Chile. A previous work showed that in Chile during 2008 and 2009, L. monocytogenes serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b and 4b were the most frequently identified in food and clinical strains. Here we report the molecular characterization of L. monocytogenes strains isolated from 2008 to 2017 in the country. Our results indicate that serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b and 4b continue to be the most commonly found in food products. In addition, we identify persistent and widespread PFGE subtypes. This study reports ten years of epidemiological surveillance ofL. monocytogenes in Chile.