Clostridium butyricum: from beneficial to a new emerging pathogen.
Clostridium butyricum, a strictly anaerobic spore-forming bacillus, is a common human and animal gut commensal bacterium, and is also frequently found in the environment. Whereas non-toxigenic strains are currently used as probiotics in Asia, other strains have been implicated in pathological conditions, such as botulism in infants or necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm neonates. In terms of the latter, within the same species, different strains have antagonist effects on the intestinal mucosa. In particular, short-chain fatty acids, which are products of carbohydrate fermentation, have a dose-dependent paradoxical effect. Moreover, toxin genes have been identified by genome sequencing in pathological strains. Asymptomatic carriage of these strains has also been reported. Herein, we provide an overview of the implications of C. butyricum for human health, from the beneficial to the pathogenic. We focus on pathogenic strains associated with the occurrence of necrotizing enterocolitis. We also discuss the need to use complementary microbiological methods, including culture, in order to better assess gut bacterial diversity and identify new emergent enteropathogens at the strain level.
Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
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Cassir
Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
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Benamar
Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France. Electronic address: bernard.la-scola@univ-amu.fr.
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La Scola
D000693:Anaerobiosis; D000818:Animals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000633:toxicity; D001906:Botulism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D046972:Clostridium butyricum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D020345:Enterocolitis, Necrotizing / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000254:growth & development
D001427:Bacterial Toxins
Clostridium butyricum; culturomics; metagenomics; necrotizing enterocolitis; toxins