Pathogenicity and virulence of Rickettsia

ABSTRACT

Rickettsiae include diverse Gram-negative microbial species that exhibit obligatory intracellular lifecycles between mammalian hosts and arthropod vectors. Human infections with arthropod-borne Rickettsia continue to cause significant morbidity and mortality as recent environmental changes foster the proliferation of arthropod vectors and increased exposure to humans. However, the technical difficulties in working with Rickettsia have delayed our progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in rickettsial pathogenesis and disease transmission. Recent advances in developing genetic tools for Rickettsia have enabled investigators to identify virulence genes, uncover molecular functions, and characterize host responses to rickettsial determinants. Therefore, continued efforts to determine virulence genes and their biological functions will help us understand the underlying mechanisms associated with arthropod-borne rickettsioses.

KEYWORDS:

• Rickettsia
• tick
• spotted fever
• rickettsiosis
• pathogenesis
• virulence

Acknowledgments

The author appreciates the reviewers’ constructive criticisms and their effort in reviewing this review article and apologizes for any references that were not included due to space constraints. In addition, the authors thank the Kim laboratory members for their daily encouragement and insightful discussions. Finally, the authors express their sincere gratitude to Jorge Benach, David Thanassi, Erich Mackow, and Adrianus van der Velden for their continued support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors are grateful for ongoing research support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (AI152208 and AI169287 to H.K.K.) of the National Institutes of Health and the Stony Brook University Office of the Vice President Seed Grant Program. L.H. was supported by the Kirschstein-NRSA training program (AI007539) from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.