Shifting from disease-to health-associated bacterial sporeformers

Most of our knowledge of how spores are formed and germinate comes from a handful model members of the Bacillales and Clostridiales, most being bacterial pathogens of human interest. This handful of pathogenic spore-formers have been used to design and optimize food processing and sanitization strategies reducing the spore-load and prevent pathogen spread and disease. However, excessive sanitization inadvertently impacts human health by preventing the normal transmission routes of commensal bacterial strains. Indeed, evidence suggests that nearly 40% of the genera of the human intestinal microbiota are strict anaerobic spore-formers. The human intestinal microbiota community has important metabolic and protective roles in human health by metabolizing indigestible carbohydrates, producing beneficial molecules protecting us from disease by modulating the host immune system. In this webinar, we will discuss the relevance of sporulation, spore germination and additional phenotypic traits that contribute to host-to-host transmission of pathogenic bacteria as well as members of the gut microbiota and potential new approaches to restore transmission routes used by beneficial bacteria.