Aquatic environment drives the emergence of cell wall-deficient dormant forms in Listeria
Stressed bacteria can enter a dormant viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state. VBNC pathogens pose an increased health risk as they are undetectable by growth-based techniques and can wake up back into a virulent state. Although widespread in bacteria, the mechanisms governing this phenotypic switch remain elusive. Here, we investigate the VBNC state transition in the human pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. We show that bacteria starved in mineral water become VBNC by converting into osmotically stable cell wall-deficient coccoid forms, a phenomenon that occurs in other Listeria species. We reveal the bacterial stress response regulator SigB and the autolysin NamA as major actors of VBNC state transition. We lastly show that VBNC Listeria revert to a walled and virulent state after passage in chicken embryos. Our study provides more detail on the VBNC state transition mechanisms, revealing wall-free bacteria naturally arising in aquatic environments as a potential survival strategy in hypoosmotic and oligotrophic conditions.
Authors
- Aurélien Barbotin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8561-5191)
- Anna Sartori-Rupp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8540-9910)
- Alessandro Pagliuso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0421-5442)
- Emma Desgranges
- Anastasia D. Gazi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2922-3625)
- Marie‐Pierre Chapot‐Chartier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4947-0519)
- Eliane Milohanic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8812-3023)
- Matthieu Bertrand (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3956-778X)
- Alexis Carreaux
- Pascal Courtin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8731-8318)
- Rut Carballido‐López (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9383-8811)
- Catherine Schouler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3480-6278)
- Hélène Bierne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0525-0848)
- Florence Dubois‐Brissonnet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2998-7518)
- Pierre Nicolas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1133-0609)
- Karine Gloux (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8880-6628)
- Stéphane Tachon
- Filipe Carvalho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6828-1772)
Institutions
- Université de Tours (FR)
- Institut Pasteur (FR)
- AgroParisTech (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Microbiologie de l’alimentation au service de la santé (FR)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Mathématiques et Informatique Appliquées du Génome à l'Environnement (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-10-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52633-7
- Citations
- 19
- Primary Topic
- Listeria monocytogenes in Food Safety
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.34
Funders
- Equipex
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Universidade do Porto
- Université Paris-Saclay
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement
- H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions