Departamento de Biotecnología, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de los Alimentos (IATA), CSIC, Valencia, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jun 27;13(1):10435. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-36857-z.
Fungal infections are less studied than viral or bacterial infections and often more difficult to treat. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is usually identified as an innocuous human-friendly yeast; however, this yeast can be responsible for infections mainly in immunosuppressed individuals. S. cerevisiae is a relevant organism widely used in the food industry. Therefore, the study of food yeasts as the source of clinical infection is becoming a pivotal question for food safety. In this study, we demonstrate that S. cerevisiae strains cause infections to spread mostly from food environments. Phylogenetic analysis, genome structure analysis, and phenotypic characterization showed that the key sources of the infective strains are food products, such as bread and probiotic supplements. We observed that the adaptation to host infection can drive important phenotypic and genomic changes in these strains that could be good markers to determine the source of infection. These conclusions add pivotal evidence to reinforce the need for surveillance of food-related S. cerevisiae strains as potential opportunistic pathogens.
真菌感染的研究不如病毒或细菌感染深入，而且通常更难治疗。酿酒酵母通常被认为是一种无害的、对人类友好的酵母；然而，这种酵母可能是导致主要发生在免疫抑制个体中的感染的原因。酿酒酵母是一种在食品工业中广泛应用的相关生物体。因此，研究食品酵母作为临床感染源对于食品安全来说是一个关键问题。在本研究中，我们证明了酿酒酵母菌株引起的感染主要是从食物环境中传播的。系统发育分析、基因组结构分析和表型特征表明，感染菌株的主要来源是食物产品，如面包和益生菌补充剂。我们观察到，对宿主感染的适应可以促使这些菌株发生重要的表型和基因组变化，这些变化可能是确定感染源的良好标记。这些结论为加强对与食物相关的酿酒酵母菌株作为潜在机会性病原体的监测提供了关键证据。
