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Infection and Immunity, June 2001, p. 4192-4192, Vol. 69, No. 6
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.6.4192.2001
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Saccharomyces and Enteropathogenic Escherichia
coli
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LETTER |
Regarding the study by Czerucka et al. (1) on the
mechanism of action of "Saccharomyces boulardii," the
latter is an invalid taxonomic term (2). Moreover, studies
in our laboratory and in other laboratories reviewed in our paper
(2) indicate that "S. boulardii" is a
synonym for a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. No other
strains of S. cerevisiae were studied by Czerucka et al. so
it is not clear that the properties demonstrated (1) for
"S. boulardii" would not be possessed by other strains
of S. cerevisiae.
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REFERENCES |
| 1.
|
Czerucka, D.,
S. Dahan,
B. Mograbi,
B. Rossi, and P. Rampal.
2000.
Saccharomyces boulardii preserves the barrier function and modulates the signal transduction pathway induced in enteropathogenic Escherichia coli-infected T84 cells.
Infect. Immun.
68:5998-6004[Abstract/Free Full Text].
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| 2.
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McCullough, M. J.,
K. V. Clemons,
J. H. McCusker, and D. A. Stevens.
1998.
Species identification and virulence attributes of Saccharomyces boulardii (nom. inval.).
J. Clin. Microbiol.
36:2613-2617[Abstract/Free Full Text].
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| | | | |
David A. Stevens
Division of Infectious Diseases
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine
Stanford University
751 S. Bascom Avenue
San Jose, California 95128-2699
Phone: (408) 885-4313
Fax: (408) 885-4306
E-mail: stevens{at}leland.stanford.edu.
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| |
AUTHOR'S REPLY |
The interesting letter of Dr. Stevens approaches several different
aspects of the question of the denomination of the strain Saccharomyces boulardii.
To avoid any confusion, we consider it useful to differentiate these
different aspects.
(i) From an identification and differentiation point of view, clearly,
conventional biochemical characteristics cannot be used to
unambiguously separate strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae themselves and to distinguish S. cerevisiae from S. boulardii (3). But in a recent study, both multilocus
enzyme electrophoresis and restriction polymorphism of mitochondrial
DNA were able to clearly distinguish S. boulardii from
S. cerevisiae (M. Mallié, P. Van Nguyen, S. Bertout,
and J. M. Bastide. Abstr. 14th Congr. Int. Soc. Hum. Anim. Mycol.
2000, abstr. 511.)
(ii) From a classification point of view it can be discussed whether
the particular strain S. boulardii has to be included in the
species S. cerevisiae or outside it. Some authors, such as
Cardinali and Martini (1) and McFarland (4),
consider that S. boulardii is just outside the species
S. cerevisiae. Others, such as Mallié et al. (Abstr.
14th Congr. Int. Soc. Hum. Anim. Mycol. 2000), consider that according
to current scientific taxonomy, S. boulardii should be
considered as part of S. cerevisiae; they consider it an
original strain and propose the name S. cerevisiae var.
boulardii. Clearly, this is still a debated subject and the paper by Dr. McCullough et al. (3) has probably not closed the discussion.
(iii) Finally, Dr. Stevens questions the fact that we study S. boulardii but no strain of S. cerevisiae. It is an
interesting academic question, but we confirm that our studies have
focused on lyophilized S. boulardii, which is a marketed
product of which Laboratoires Biocodex want to extend the scientific
knowledge, encouraging research to further elucidate its mode of action.
In fact, there has been at least one study testing different stains of
Saccharomyces. Castagliuolo et al. tested both S. boulardii and another strain (S. cerevisiae ATCC 32167)
and found that only S. boulardii exhibited antidiarrheal
effects in the rat ileal loop model (2).
Does the fact that we have not studied others strains of
Saccharomyces invalidate the value of our research and the
interest in reporting it?
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REFERENCES |
| 1.
|
Cardinali, G., and A. Martini.
1994.
Electrophoretic karyotypes of authentic strains of the sensu stricto group of the genus Saccharomyces.
Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol.
44:791-797[Abstract/Free Full Text].
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| 2.
|
Castagliuolo, I.,
J. T. LaMont,
S. T. Nikulasson, and C. Pothoulakis.
1996.
Saccharomyces boulardii protease inhibits Clostridium difficile toxin A effects in the rat ileum.
Infect. Immun.
64:5225-5232[Abstract].
|
| 3.
|
McCullough, M. J.,
K. V. Clemons,
J. H. McCusker, and D. A. Stevens.
1998.
Species identification and virulence attributes of Saccharomyces boulardii (nom. inval.).
J. Clin. Microbiol.
36:2613-2617.
|
| 4.
|
McFarlane, L. V.
1996.
Saccharomyces boulardii is not Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Clin. Infect. Dis.
22:200[Medline].
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| | | | |
Dorota Czerucka
Laboratoire de Gastroenterologie et Nutrition
Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis
28 Avenue de Valombrose
06107 Nice Cedex 2, France
Phone: 33 49 81 77 10
Fax: 33 4 93 37 76 95
E-mail: czerucka{at}unice.fr
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Infection and Immunity, June 2001, p. 4192-4192, Vol. 69, No. 6
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.6.4192.2001
