Bordetella sp. Versus Microbiota

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although the interactions between invading pathogens and the host's resident microbiota are clearly important to the outcome of many infections, they remain poorly understood with few experimental systems in which they can be explored at a molecular mechanistic level. We have recently identified striking differences between closely related pathogens of the genus Bordetella in their interactions with host microbiome that can explain important aspects of their biology, including host specificity and pathology. B. bronchiseptica efficiently colonizes the upper respiratory tracts (URT) of mice (ID501000cfu) and does not affect resident microbiota. Testing the hypothesis that resident microbiota of mice inhibit colonization, we observed that clearing the URT of bacteria allows B. pertussis to efficiently colonize (ID50