Survival of the fittest: how Brucella strains adapt to their intracellular niche in the host

Brucella strains produce abortion and infertility in their natural hosts and a zoonotic disease in humans known as undulant fever. These bacteria do not produce classical virulence factors, and their capacity to successfully survive and replicate within a variety of host cells underlies their pathog...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical microbiology and immunology 2009-11, Vol.198 (4), p.221-238
Main Authors: Roop, R. Martin II, Gaines, Jennifer M, Anderson, Eric S, Caswell, Clayton C, Martin, Daniel W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abortion
Adaptation, Physiological
Animals
Bacteria
Bacterial diseases
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Brucella
Brucella - genetics
Brucella - immunology
Brucella - metabolism
Brucella - pathogenicity
Brucellosis
Cellular biology
Chronic infection
Dendritic Cells - immunology
Dendritic Cells - microbiology
Epithelial Cells - immunology
Epithelial Cells - microbiology
Fever
Flagella - immunology
Flagella - microbiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Immune system
Immunology
Infections
Infectious diseases
Infertility
Macrophages
Macrophages - immunology
Macrophages - microbiology
Medical Microbiology
Medical sciences
Microbiology
Miscellaneous
Niches
Nitric Oxide - metabolism
Oxidative Stress
Pathogenicity
Phosphatidylcholines - metabolism
Placenta
Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism
Replication
Reproductive system
Review
Survival
Trophoblasts
Trophoblasts - immunology
Trophoblasts - microbiology
Virology
virulence factors
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Description
Summary:Brucella strains produce abortion and infertility in their natural hosts and a zoonotic disease in humans known as undulant fever. These bacteria do not produce classical virulence factors, and their capacity to successfully survive and replicate within a variety of host cells underlies their pathogenicity. Extensive replication of the brucellae in placental trophoblasts is associated with reproductive tract pathology in natural hosts, and prolonged persistence in macrophages leads to the chronic infections that are a hallmark of brucellosis in both natural hosts and humans. This review describes how Brucella strains have efficiently adapted to their intracellular lifestyle in the host.
ISSN:0300-8584
1432-1831
DOI:10.1007/s00430-009-0123-8