Acidifying bacteria inhibit pathogenic bacteria more strongly with increasing glucose

Classical microbiology has focused on directly suppressing pathogens using drugs, ignoring other harmless microbial species living alongside them. We now have a much better understanding of how species interact and affect one another's growth within microbial communities, e.g. through chemical production. Here we capitalize on this understanding to demonstrate how one can manipulate and control the strength of interactions between bacterial species, and combine this with antibiotics to eliminate pathogens. Using experiments and a mathematical model, we first show how Citrobacter freundii can suppress the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa by reducing the pH, alongside the use of ampicillin. This negative interaction from C. freundii to P. aeruginosa can be strengthened by increasing glucose concentrations. Our proof-of-concept approach also worked against other pathogens: Klebsiella pneumoniae and Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and a different competitor species: Lactobacillus plantarum, a common probiotic. Overall, we show that taking advantage of the community and chemical context in which microbes live can help to develop efficient strategies to control them. In the medical or agricultural context, this approach can help to eliminate pathogens thereby reducing our reliance on antibiotics.