ArticleNature communications2016
Microbe-mediated host defence drives the evolution of reduced pathogen virulence.
Article in Nature communications, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
66 citing papers in PubMed.
- Coinfections Dampen the Effects of Temperature on Host-Parasite Interactions.Ecology letters · 2026Article
- The insect- and plant-associated lifestyles of Pseudomonas protegens CHA0 are preserved following serial passage through insect larvae.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- The Caenorhabditis elegans microbiome impacts microsporidia infection through nutrient limitation and spore inactivation.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- The WormFood CURE: Screening for bioactive metabolites that antagonize thebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Integrating the Microbiome Into Infection Ecology and Evolution in Wild Animals.Molecular ecology · 2026Review
- Antimicrobial metabolites of the intestinal fungus Trichoderma sp. QTYC44 from Pantala flavescens larvae.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- Microbiome composition modulates the lethal outcome of Drosophila A virus infection.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2026Article
- Multi-omics analyses reveal the virulence differentiation underlying natural variation inApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Comparative Genomic Analysis Identifies FleQ and GcbB as Virulence-Associated Factors in Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci Strains.Molecular plant pathology · 2025Article
- Host Transcriptomics Reveal Reduction in Defence-Reproduction Trade-Offs During Coinfection.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Immune-mediated indirect interaction between gut microbiota and bacterial pathogens.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Brief guide to Caenorhabditis elegans survival assays.Molecules and cells · 2025Review
- Experimental evolution of a pathogen confronted with innate immune memory increases variation in virulence.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Unlocking the Interactions Between the Whole-Body Microbiome and HPV Infection: A Literature Review.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Dissecting transmission to understand parasite evolution.PLoS pathogens · 2025Review
- Role of microbial life history strategy in shaping the characteristics and evolution of host-microbiota interactions.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Within-host competition causes pathogen molecular evolution and perpetual microbiota dysbiosis.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- InvasiveInternational journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2024Article
- The strength of interspecies interaction in a microbial community determines its susceptibility to invasion.PLoS biology · 2024Article
6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microbes that protect their hosts from pathogens are widespread in nature and are attractive disease control agents. Given that pathogen adaptation to barriers against infection can drive changes in pathogen virulence, 'defensive microbes' may shape disease severity. Here we show that co-evolving a microbe with host-protective properties (Enterococcus faecalis) and a pathogen (Staphylococcus aureus) within Caenorhabditis elegans hosts drives the evolution of reduced pathogen virulence as a by-product of adaptation to the defensive microbe. Using both genomic and phenotypic analyses, we discover that the production of fewer iron-scavenging siderophores by the pathogen reduces the fitness of the defensive microbe and underpins the decline in pathogen virulence. These data show that defensive microbes can shape the evolution of pathogen virulence and that the mechanism of pathogen resistance can determine the direction of virulence evolution.
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