Iscience: the Drosophila model helps to reveal the mechanism of pathogen infection

February 11, 2020 / BIOON / -- Clostridium difficile is known to cause diarrhea and other intestinal disorders In western countries, the prevalence of Clostridium infection has become more and more serious In the United States alone, the number of deaths reported each year has reached 29000 Recently, biologists at the University of California, San Diego, are looking for mechanisms for Clostridium difficile infection in newly developed common fruit fly models to help develop new therapies against pathogens Their results were published in the Journal iscience The author, Professor Ethan bier of the University of California, San Diego, said: "Clostridium difficile infection poses a serious risk to hospitalized patients This study reveals how the pathogen gains an advantage in the competition of other probiotics by producing toxic factors These mechanisms can help to develop new strategies to control the infection of this pathogen and reduce its symptoms " Like most bacterial pathogens, Clostridium difficile secretes toxins that enter the host cells, disrupt key signaling pathways and weaken the host's normal defense mechanisms Among them, Clostridium difficile, the most virulent strain, will release two sets of toxins, trigger a series of complex cell reactions, and finally form a long membrane protrusion, so that the bacteria can attach to the host cells more effectively Scientists at bier lab have developed a Drosophila model that can express the "CDTA" active ingredient of the toxin This model enables them to study the detailed mechanism of CDTA toxicity in vivo "Drosophila's gut provides a fast and accurate model for studying the human gut," bier said In addition, a large number of complex genetic tools in Drosophila can determine how toxic factors produced by bacteria can destroy the new mechanism of cell process and molecular pathway Once these findings are verified in mammalian systems or human cells, they can lead to new methods of disease prevention or reduction The severity of Clostridium difficile infection " Source of information: fly model offers new approach to unraveling 'difficult' pathogen source: Ruth Schwartz et al, a Drosophila model for Clostridium difficule toxin CDT revels interactions with multiple effector pathways, iscience (2020) Doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.100865