Complex Responses to Hydrogen Peroxide and Hypochlorous Acid by the Probiotic Bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri

Reactive oxidants, including hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorous acid, are antimicrobial compounds produced by the immune system during inflammation. Little is known, however, about how many important types of bacteria present in the human microbiome respond to these oxidants, especially commensal and other health-associated species. We have now mapped the stress response to both H 2 O 2 and HOCl in the intestinal lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri .