Rise of the guardians: Gut microbial maneuvers in bacterial infections

Bacterial infections are one of the major causes of mortality globally. The gut microbiota, primarily comprised of the commensals, performs an important role in maintaining intestinal immunometabolic homeostasis. The current review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how modulation of the gut microbiota influences opportunistic bacterial infections.

Primarily centered around mechanisms related to colonization resistance, nutrient, and metabolite-associated factors, mucosal immune response, and commensal-pathogen reciprocal interactions, we discuss how gut microbiota can promote or prevent bacterial infections.

Opportunistic infections can occur directly due to obligate pathogens or indirectly due to the overgrowth of opportunistic pathobionts. Gut microbiota-centered mechanisms of altered intestinal immunometabolic and metabolomic homeostasis play a significant role in infection promotion and prevention. Depletion in the population of commensals, increased abundance of pathobionts, and overall decrease in gut microbial diversity and richness caused due to prolonged antibiotic use are risk factors of opportunistic bacterial infections, including infections from multidrug-resistant spp. Gut commensals can limit opportunistic infections by mechanisms including the production of antimicrobials, short-chain fatty acids, bile acid metabolism, promoting mucin formation, and maintaining immunological balance at the mucosa. Gut microbiota-centered strategies, including the administration of probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation, could help attenuate opportunistic bacterial infections.

The current review discussed the gut microbial population and function-specific aspects contributing to bacterial infection susceptibility and prophylaxis. Collectively, this review provides a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms related to the dual role of gut microbiota in bacterial infections.