The Effect and Mechanism of Gut Microbiota in Preventing Bacterial and Fungal Infections

Humans and animals are constantly at the risk of being infected by different kinds of bacterial and fungal pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Enterobacteriaceae bacteria, Clostridium difficile, Helicobacter pylori, Candida albicans, etc. Large numbers of commensal microbes live on and in human and animal bodies. They affect the host’s development, metabolism, and immunity, thus contributing to human and animal health and diseases. In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the role of gut microbiota in infectious diseases. The mechanisms of gut microbiota altering the outcome of infections directly or indirectly involve different facets including colonization resistance, niche availability, infection susceptibility, etc. The situation can be more complex when considering the crosstalk among the microbiota, pathogens, and host immunity. Efforts should be made to further elucidate the role of and the molecular basis behind the microbiota in defending pathogen infections. This will lay the foundation for developing strategies to prevent or treat infectious diseases in both humans and animals by manipulating the gut microbiota using prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). Currently, one of the most successful examples may be the application of FMT in treating Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).

This Research Topic is focused on the role of gut microbiota in preventing bacterial and fungal infections and the mechanisms involved in different hosts. Modulating the gut microbiota to prevent and treat pathogen infection is also included.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• The effect and mechanism of gut microbiota in preventing bacterial infection;

• The effect and mechanism of gut microbiota in preventing fungal infection;

• The interplay between nutrition, immunity, and microbiota in pathogen colonization and infection;

• Regulating the gut microbiota using probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), etc., to prevent or treat pathogen infections.

• Gut-lung axis

• Gut-oral microbiome interactions