The interplay between gut bacteria and the yeast Candida albicans

Abstract

The fungus Candida albicans is a ubiquitous member of the human gut microbiota. Hundreds or thousands of bacterial taxa reside together with this fungus in the intestine, creating a milieu with myriad opportunities for inter-kingdom interactions. Indeed, recent studies examining the broader composition – that is, monitoring not only bacteria but also the often neglected fungal component – of the gut microbiota hint that there are significant interdependencies between fungi and bacteria. Gut bacteria closely associate with C. albicans cells in the colon, break down and feed on complex sugars decorating the fungal cell wall, and shape the intestinal microhabitats occupied by the fungus. Peptidoglycan subunits released by bacteria upon antibiotic treatment can promote C. albicans dissemination from the intestine, seeding bloodstream infections that often become life-threatening. Elucidating the principles that govern the fungus-bacteria interplay may open the door to novel approaches to prevent C. albicans infections originating in the gut.

The Effect of Hydrolyzed and Fermented Arabinoxylan-Oligo Saccharides (AXOS) Intake on the Middle-Term Gut Microbiome Modulation and Its Metabolic Answer

“…Similarly, the fungal community also evolved significantly after supplementation of fermented and hydrolyzed AXOS with an increase in Candida relative abundance and a decrease in Issatchenkia , while the intake of non-hydrolyzed/non-fermented AXOS did not produce relevant changes. This observed reshaping of both bacterial and fungal communities within the PC is not surprising since a large body of literature exists showing how bacteria interplay fungal traits in gut ecosystems and vice versa [ 25 ]. In any case, this study highlights how the preliminary fermentation by lactic acid bacteria and the hydrolyzation of cereal-based flours containing AXOS had the capacity to address the microbiome modulation within the PC tract in a different way compared to that given by non-fermented/non-hydrolyzed formulation.…”

Altered gut fungi in systemic lupus erythematosus – A pilot study

“…The change of ITS/16S diversity ratio reflects the change of fungus-bacterial microbiota balance. A recent study showed that gut fungal and bacterial microbiota are interdependent, especially the interaction of gut bacteria microbiota with Candida albicans ( Pérez, 2021 ). Another study in ankylosing spondylitis also found that Candida was associated with a variety of bacteria ( Li et al, 2019a ).…”

Candida albicans and Enterococcus faecalis biofilm frenemies: When the relationship sours

“…There is a growing fascination of how C. albicans interacts with bacterial species within complex interkingdom communities [ 31 , 56 , 69 , 70 ]. These studies have been instrumental in furthering our understanding of how this opportunistic yeast co-operates, or otherwise, with key bacterial species.…”