The nasal mutualist Dolosigranulum pigrum AMBR11 supports homeostasis via multiple mechanisms

Ilke De Boeck; Stijn Wittouck; Katleen Martens; Irina Spacova; Eline Cauwenberghs; Camille Nina Allonsius; Jennifer Jörissen; Sander Wuyts; Wannes Van Beeck; Jelle Dillen; Peter A Bron; Brecht Steelant; Peter W Hellings; Olivier M Vanderveken; Sarah Lebeer

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102978

The nasal mutualist Dolosigranulum pigrum AMBR11 supports homeostasis via multiple mechanisms

iScience. 2021 Aug 13;24(9):102978. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102978. eCollection 2021 Sep 24.

Authors

Ilke De Boeck¹, Stijn Wittouck¹, Katleen Martens^{1

2}, Irina Spacova¹, Eline Cauwenberghs¹, Camille Nina Allonsius¹, Jennifer Jörissen¹, Sander Wuyts¹, Wannes Van Beeck¹, Jelle Dillen¹, Peter A Bron¹, Brecht Steelant², Peter W Hellings^{2

3}, Olivier M Vanderveken^{4

5}, Sarah Lebeer¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
² KU Leuven Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Research Unit, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
³ Clinical Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
⁴ Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Translational Neurosciences, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium.
⁵ ENT, Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Disorders, Antwerp University Hospital, 2650 Edegem, Belgium.

Abstract

Comparing the nasal microbiome of healthy individuals and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients revealed Dolosigranulum pigrum as a species clearly associated with nasal health, although isolates obtained from healthy individuals are scarce. In this study, we explored the properties of this understudied lactic acid bacterium by integrating comparative genomics, habitat mining, cultivation, and functional characterization of interaction capacities. Mining 10.000 samples from the Earth Microbiome Project of 17 habitat types revealed that Dolosigranulum is mainly associated with the human nasal cavity. D. pigrum AMBR11 isolated from the nose of a healthy individual exerted antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, decreased proinflammatory cytokine production in airway epithelial cells, and Galleria mellonella larvae mortality induced by this important nasal pathobiont. Furthermore, the strain protected the nasal barrier function in a mouse model using interleukin-4 as disruptive cytokine. Hence, D. pigrum AMBR11 is a mutualist with high potential as topical live biotherapeutic product.

Keywords: Immunology; Microbiology; Microbiome.