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Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy Volume 1, 2003 - Issue 1
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Review

The art of serendipity: killing of Caenorhabditis elegans by human pathogens as a model of bacterial and fungal pathogenesis

Eleftherios Mylonakis Harvard Medical School,, Massachusetts General Hospital, Division of Infectious Diseases, 55 Fruit Street, Gray 5, GRJ-504, Boston, MA 02114, USA. [email protected]
,
Frederick M Ausubel Harvard Medical School,, Massachusetts General Hospital, Division of Infectious Diseases, 55 Fruit Street, Gray 5, GRJ-504, Boston, MA 02114, USA. [email protected]
,
Robin Jian Tang Harvard Medical School,, Massachusetts General Hospital, Division of Infectious Diseases, 55 Fruit Street, Gray 5, GRJ-504, Boston, MA 02114, USA. [email protected]
&
Stephen B Calderwood Harvard Medical School,, Massachusetts General Hospital, Division of Infectious Diseases, 55 Fruit Street, Gray 5, GRJ-504, Boston, MA 02114, USA. [email protected]
Pages 167-173 | Published online: 10 Jan 2014

References

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  • •Interesting review of studies on the extensive conservation in the virulence mechanisms used by P aeruginosa to infect evolutionarily diverged hosts.
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  • •Overview of model systems that use plants and nematodes as adjuncts to mammalian models to help elucidate the molecular basis of P aeruginosa pathogenesis.
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  • •Excellent review on the topic.
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  • •Studies investigating the parallels between Gram-positive infection in simple and more complex organisms with a focus on E faecalis
  • Mylonakis E, Ausubel FM, Perfect JR, Heitman J, Calderwood SB. Killing of Caenorhabditis elegans by Ctyptococcus neoformans as a model of yeast pathogenesis. Proc. Natl Acad. Sc]. USA 99(24), 15675–15680 (2002).
  • •C. elegans can be used as a simple model host in which C neoformans pathogenesis can be readily studied.
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  • •The first demonstration of inducible antibacterial defenses in C elegam
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  • •A genetic screen for C elegans mutants led to the identification of two genes required for pathogen resistance: one that encodes a mitogen-activated protein (IVIAP) kinase kinase, and another that encodes a MAP kinase kinase kinase.
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  • •Deletion mutants for four genes supposed to function in a nematode Toll signaling pathway demonstrated that in C. elegans, tol-1 is important for development and pathogen recognition.
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  • •Interesting nonmammalian model. Microscopy, fungal and arneae killing assays, and phagocytosis assays revealed that C neofonnansis phagocytosed by and replicates in Acanthamoeba castellanii, which leads to death of amoebae.
  • Levitz SM. Does amoeboid reasoningexplain the evolution and maintenance of virulence factors in Cryptococcus neoformans? Proc. Nat/Acad. Li. USA 98(26), 14760–14762 (2001).
  • Rincon M. MAP-kinase signaling pathwaysin T-cells. Curr. Opin. Immunol 13(3), 339–345 (2001).

Websites

  • www.hgmp.mrc.ac.uldgeneservice/ reagents/products/descriptions/ Celegans.shtml
  • http://focus.hms.harvard.edu/ 192002/ Nov22_2002/microbiology.html

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