Intestinal Bile Acids Induce a Morphotype Switch in Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus that Facilitates Intestinal Colonization (Cell Host & Microbe)

Enterococci are common, increasingly antibiotic-resistant gut microbes that grow as diplococci in liquid media. McKenney et al. describe a morphotype switch to chained growth driven by bile acids and reversed by cations, which was necessary for persistence in the intestine by vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium.