Pathogen-mediated damage to the intestinal epithelium activates compensatory growth and differentiation repair programs in progenitor cells. Accelerated progenitor growth replenishes damaged tissue and maintains barrier integrity. Despite the importance of epithelial renewal to intestinal homeostasis, we know little about the effects of pathogen-commensal interactions on progenitor growth. We found that the enteric pathogen Vibrio cholerae, blocks critical growth and differentiation pathways in Drosophila progenitors despite extensive damage to the epithelial tissue. We showed that inhibition of epithelial repair requires interactions of the Vibrio cholerae type six secretion system with a complex community of symbiotic bacteria, and that elimination of the gut microbiome is sufficient to restore homeostatic growth in infected intestines. Together, this work highlights the importance of pathogen-symbiont interactions on intestinal immune responses and outlines a previously undescribed impact of the type six secretion system on pathogenesis.

Complex symbiont-pathogen interactions inhibit intestinal repair