Virulence Factors and in-Host Selection on Phenotypes in Infectious Probiotic Yeast Isolates (Saccharomyces ‘boulardii’)

Imre, A. and Kovács, Renátó and Pazmandi, Kitti and Nemes, D. and Jakab, Á. and Fekete, Tünde and Rácz, H. V. and Dóczi, Ilona and Bácskay, Ildikó and Gácser, Attila and Kovács, K. and Majoros, László and Farkas, Zoltán and Pócsi, István and Pfliegler, Walter P. (2021) Virulence Factors and in-Host Selection on Phenotypes in Infectious Probiotic Yeast Isolates (Saccharomyces ‘boulardii’). JOURNAL OF FUNGI. ISSN 2309-608X

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Abstract

accharomyces yeast probiotics (S. ’boulardii’) have long been applied in the treatment of several gastrointestinal conditions. Despite their widespread use, they are rare opportunistic path-ogens responsible for a high proportion of Saccharomyces mycosis cases. The potential virulence at-tributes of S. ’boulardii’ as well as its interactions with the human immune system have been studied, however, no information is available on how these yeasts may change due to in-host evolution. To fill this gap, we compared the general phenotypic characteristics, cell morphology, virulence factors, epithelial and immunological interactions, and pathogenicity of four probiotic product samples, two mycosis, and eight non-mycosis samples of S. ’boulardii’. We assessed the characteristics related to major steps of yeast infections. Mycosis and non-mycosis isolates both displayed novel characters when compared to the product isolates, but in the case of most virulence factors and in pathogenic-ity, differences were negligible or, surprisingly, the yeasts from products showed elevated levels. No isolates inflicted considerable damage to the epithelial model or bore the hallmarks of immune evasion. Our results show that strains in probiotic products possess characteristics that enable them to act as pathogens upon permissive conditions, and their entry into the bloodstream is not due to active mechanisms but depends on the host. Survival in the host is dependent on yeast phenotypic characteristics which may change in many ways once they start evolving in the host. These facts call attention to the shortcomings of virulence phenotyping in yeast research, and the need for a more thorough assessment of probiotic use.

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