The case for hypervirulence through gene deletion in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Deletion of genes in a pathogen is commonly associated with a reduction in its ability to cause disease. However, some rare cases have been described in the literature whereby deletion of a gene results in an increase in virulence. Recently, there have been several reports of hypervirulence resultin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in microbiology (Regular ed.) 2008-09, Vol.16 (9), p.436-441
Main Authors: ten Bokum, Annemieke M.C, Movahedzadeh, Farahnaz, Frita, Rosangela, Bancroft, Gregory J, Stoker, Neil G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacterial Proteins - genetics
Bacterial Proteins - metabolism
Disease Models, Animal
Gene Deletion
Humans
Internal Medicine
Mice
Mice, Inbred Strains
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis - genetics
Mycobacterium tuberculosis - metabolism
Mycobacterium tuberculosis - pathogenicity
Sequence Deletion
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - microbiology
Virulence
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Summary:Deletion of genes in a pathogen is commonly associated with a reduction in its ability to cause disease. However, some rare cases have been described in the literature whereby deletion of a gene results in an increase in virulence. Recently, there have been several reports of hypervirulence resulting from gene deletion in Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Here, we explore this phenomenon in the context of the interaction between the pathogen and the host response.
ISSN:0966-842X
1878-4380
DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2008.06.003