mSphere of Influence: Is asymptomatic colonization really silent?

Brady Spencer is a bacteriologist studying host-pathogen-microbiota interactions. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how two studies from Scott Hultgren's laboratory on mucosal imprinting following Escherichia coli bladder infection (V. P. O'Brien, T. J. Hannan, L. Yu, J. Livny, et al., Nat Microbiol 2:16196, 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.196; S. K. Russell, J. K. Harrison, B. S. Olson, H. J. Lee, et al., Nat Microbiol 8:875-888, 2023, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01346-6) and work by J. C. Whitney, S. B. Peterson, J. Kim, M. Pazos, et al., eLife 6:e26938, 2017, https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26938) on T7SSb-mediated interbacterial antagonism shaped her approach to studying group B Streptococcus colonization and its potential long-term consequences at mucosal surfaces.